
V- s fa* % v ' w a 



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17 



Meridian O of Greenwich 



to 



THE 



HISTORY 

OF THE 

MAHOMETAN EMPIRE IN SPAIN: 

CONTAINING 

A GENERAL HISTORY OF THE ARABS, 

THEIR INSTITUTIONS, CONQUESTS, LITERATURE, ARTS, SCIENCES, 

AND MANNERS, 
TO THE EXPULSION OF THE MOORS. 



DESIGNED AS 

AN INTRODUCTION 

TO 

THE ARABIAN ANTIQUITIES OF SPAIN, 

BY JAMES CAVANAH MURPHY, 

ARCHITECT, 



LONDON : 



PRINTED FOR T. CADELL AND W. DA VIES, STRAND ; 
BY WILLIAM BULMER AND CO. CLEVELAND-ROW, ST. JAMEs's. 

1816. 



PREFACE. 



The effects produced by the Arabs, while they held the 
sovereignty of Spain, have been sufficiently felt and acknow- 
ledged throughout Europe, to render their History a matter 
of great interest and research. Aware of this circumstance, 
various writers have, of late years, directed their attention to 
the subject; though few have contributed to its elucidation. 
Without the means of attaining to that primary and purest 
source of information, which the records of the Arabs possess, 
they have, for the most part, successively followed each other 
in the same maze of fable and of error. The writings 
of the Arabs on this topic, it may further be remarked, are 
seldom to be met with ; and the European readers of these 
writings are equally rare. For these reasons it is hoped, that 
the following work, which is either extracted immediately 
from the most approved Arabic historians, or is compiled, 
where these failed, from other authorities best deserving of 
credit, will, on account of its authenticity, obtain a favourable 
reception. 



vi 



PREFACE, 



Of the difficulty of the task here attempted, an adequate 
idea can be formed by those only, who are actually conver- 
sant with the manuscripts of the Arabs, and who have selected 
and translated from them : in the arrangement and uniform 
characters of European writings, such difficulties are unknown. 
And, notwithstanding the care taken in the selection of evi- 
dence, as well as in the ascertainment of its meaning, yet such 
is the discordancy of the different records on some points, 
and the uncertainty which must frequently occur in the read- 
ing of Arabic words, that indulgence may with reason be 
shown by the critic, if any inconsistency or mistake, arising 
from such causes, should be discovered. 

The History of the Mahometan Empire in Spain, 
divides itself into two principal portions : first, the Political 
and Military History of the Arabs in that country ; and, 
secondly, the History of their Civil Institutions, Literature, 
Sciences, Arts, Manufactures, Commerce, 8cc. For which of 
these portions the authors are severally responsible, it now 
remains to inform the Public. 

For the Introduction, which presents a concise account of 
the early history of the Arabs previously to their conquest 
of Spain, the publishers are indebted to the kindness and 
liberality of the acute and learned historian of ancient 
Greece. 

Part I. containing the Political and Military History of the 



PREFACE. 



vii 



Mahometan Empire in Spain, together with the description 
of Cordova," and the translation of the Arabic inscriptions in 
the Appendix, are due to Mr. john shakespear, Professor 
of Oriental Languages to the Honourable East India Company's 
Military Seminary : of the Arabic MSS. consulted by him, Mr. 
Shakespear has given some account in the course of the fol- 
lowing pages.t The remainder of Part L, comprising a 
Topographical Account of the Principal Seats of the Maho- 
metan Empire in Spain, and the whole of Paut II. , which 
treats on the Literature, Sciences, Arts, Manufactures and 
Commerce, as well as on the Civil and Military Institutions 
of the Arabs, were composed by Mr. thomas hartwell 
horne, Sub-Librarian of the Surry Institution, who has 
availed himself of the best authorities that could be procured 
and in particular of the elaborate Catalogue of Arabic Manu- 
scripts in the Library of the Escurial, formed by the learned 
Miguel Casiri ; which contains a treasure of undoubted inform- 
ation, relative to the Political, Literary, and Civil History of the 
Arabs in Spain, not generally accessible, and hitherto almost 
unexplored. 

Before the authors submit the result of their labours to the 
perusal of the public, they deem it proper to offer some ex- 
planation respecting the system of orthography pursued in 
this work, — a measure which has, in fact, become necessary, 

* pp. 29-159, 162-184 f pp. 31-52. 



viii 



PREFACE. 



from the various and discordant systems that have been 
adopted, in the application of Roman characters to Arabic 
words. 

Wherever references, then, are made to European authors, 
or any facts are related on their authority, the names are, for the 
most part, transcribed without alteration, as is the case in the 
citations from the Bibliotheca Arabico-Escurialensis of Casiri ; 
in order that the reader may not be bewildered in consulting 
the authorities. Where, however, the work is translated imme- 
diately from Arabic MSS. (as in Mr. Shakespear's portion) the 
letter a should be pronounced as in the English words man, cap, 
fat ; a, as in the word all ; the diphthong ai, as the English 
i in dire ; the diphthong au, as the English ou in our ; gh, as 
a deep guttural sound of g, much resembling the Northum- 
brian r ; h, with an aspiration sensibly uttered, as in horse. 
Further, i is to be pronounced short, as in Jin, ill ; i, as ee in 
peer ; k, as in king ; k, if ever found thus marked, more 
deeply in the throat than the English k ; kh, gutturally, like 
the German or Scotch ch ; s, as in sin ; sh, as in shine ; th, 
as in thin ; u, as the Italian u short, or as oo in foot ; and u 
long, as in cool, fool. Lastly, the letter y, if it precede a vowel, 
should be pronounced, as in yoke ; but, where it is final in 
a word, it should be uttered as in the English word daily. 



CONTENTS. 



INTRODUCTION. 

A REVIEW OF THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE ARABS—THEIR INSTITUTIONS 
— RELIGION — CONQUESTS, &c. PREVIOUSLY TO THEIR INVASION OF 
SPAIN, _ Page 1 

Chapter I. Account of Ancient Arabia — Its Provinces — Conquests, 8$c. of the 
Arabs, to the time of Mahomet, - ibid. 

Chapter II. An Account of the Arabs, from the time of Mahomet till the Arrival 
ofMusa at Tangier s — State of Spain, previously to its Invasion by the Moors, T 

PART I. 

THE POLITICAL AND MILITARY HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN EMPIRE 
IN SPAIN, &c. - - 29 

Chapter I. Some Account of the Authors, from whose Works the History of 
the Mahometan Empire in Spain has been selected ; together with Observations 
on the History of the Arabs, previously to the Conquest, - 31 

Chapter II. The Conquest of Spain by the Arabs, and the Government of the 
Country by Emirs, dependent on the Khalifs of Syria, or their Governors of 
Africa, ------ 54 

Chapter III. The Reigns of the independent Sovereigns of the House of Ummaiya 
in Spain, till the extinction of that Dynasty, - - 81 

Chapter IV. Account of the Mahometans in Spain, from the Extinction of the 
Dynasty of Ummaiya, till the Fall of Granada, - - - 121 

Chapter V. Topographical Account of the principal Seats of the Mahometan 
Empire in Spain, - - - - - - 160 

b 



CONTENTS. 



Section I. Historical Account of Cordova, - page 161 

Section II. Historical Account of the Kingdom and Oily of Granada, 187 

General Observations on the Arrangement of the Alhamra, 193 

Section III. A short Historical Account of Seville , - 202 

PART II. 

THE LITERARY AND CIVIL HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN EMPIRE IN 

SPAIN, - Page 205 

Chapter I. On the Literature and Sciences of the Arabs, - 207 



Section I. On the Literature of the Arabs. — State of Literature in Ancient Arabia 
— Destruction of the Alexandrian Library — The Khalifs, Protectors of Letters 
— The Arabs in Spain — Their Libraries, Colleges, Academies, and Schools — 
Constitution and Studies of the Spanish- Arabian Colleges and Academies — 
Love and Reverence for Learning — Language and Writing of the Arabians — 
Studies chiefly cidtivated by them — Grammar — Eloquence — Examination of the 
Eloquence of the Koran — State of Popular Eloquence among the Arabs — Elo- 
quence of the Pulpit — Writers on Rhetoric — Poetry, a favourite Object of Study 
— Eminent Arabian Poets in Spain — Dramatic Poetry — Genius of Arabian 
Poetry examined — The Arabian Tales — History — Geography — Philosophy — 
The Writings of Aristotle, why studied in preference to all others, - 207 

Section II. On the Sciences cultivated by the Arabs — Botany — Medicine — Phar- 
macy — Anatomy and Chirurgery — Chemistry — Alchemy — The Mathematical 
Sciences — Arithmetic — Algebra — Geometry — Trigonometry — Astronomy — 
Astronomical Observations made by the Arabians — Astrology — Geomancy — 
Optics — Mechanics — Hydrostatics — Jurisprudence and Theology, - 247 

Chapter II. On the Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, of the Arabians, 260 

Section I. On the useful Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, of the Arabians. — 
Agriculture and Horticulture — Mines — Metallurgy — Manufactures — Potteries, 
Manufactures of Leather, Gunpowder, Sugar, and Paper — Ancient Commerce 
of the Arabians — Commerce of the Spanish Arabs — Money, Weights, and Mea- 
sures, used in Commerce, ----- 260 



CONTENTS. 



Section II. Architecture of the Arabians — Origin of the Ancient Architecture of 
Arabia — Notice of some ancient Edifices — Mosques at Damascus and Cairuan 
— Architecture of the Arabs in Spain — Improvements in Arabian Architecture — 
Pantanas or Reservoirs — Observations on the Arrangement of their Houses- - 
Structure of their Roofs — Durability of Moorish Edifices — Form of Bricks — 
Walls, how constructed — The characteristic Features of Arabian Architecture 
considered, _____ - page 275 

Section III. On the Fine Arts of the Spanish Arabs — Painting and Sculpture — 
Arabesques — Knot Ornaments — Ornamental Writing — Music patronized by 
the Khalifs — Notice of eminent Professors of that Art — Marvellous Effects of 
Arabian Music — Its Nature and Genius, - - 291 

Chapter III. On the Manners, Customs, Amusements, Government, Revenues, 
Naval and Military Force, Sf c. of the Arabians, - - 297 

Conclusion. — What are the Obligations of Modern Europe to the Arabs* 308 

APPENDIX. 

A Collection of the Historical Notices and Poems, in the Alhamru of Granada, 

i. — xxi. 

Index of Matters. 



INTRODUCTION 



A REVIEW OF THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE ARABS — THEIR INSTITU- 
TIONS—RELIGION—CONQUESTS, &c. PREVIOUSLY TO THEIR INVASION 
OF SPAIN. 



CHAPTER I. 

Account of Ancient Arabia — Its Provinces — Conquests, Sfc. of the Arabs, to the 

time of Mahomet. 

Arabia, or at least the most considerable part of it, was from remote 
antiquity called by the natives, Arabah ; which name it still retains. 
In the language of the Arabs, however, the country which they inhabit 
is styled Jazirah al Arab, that is, the Peninsula of the Arabians : 
their historians also describe it by the appellations of Belad al Arab, 
the region of the Arabs, — Diyar al Arab, the provinces of the Arabs, 
and by some Oriental writers it is termed Arabislan, or the country of 
the Arabs.* 

Arabia, properly so called, is that great peninsula formed by the 
Arabic Gulph, the Indian Ocean, and the Persian Gulph : the ancients 

* D'Herbelot Bibl. Orient. Vol. I. p. 134 (4to. ed.) Anc. Univ. Hist. Vol. XVI. p. 243, and 
the authorities there cited, D'Anville's Anc. Geog. Vol. II. p. 1 Sale's Koran, Vol. I. p. 2* 
(Svo. edit.) 

B 



2 



INTRODUCTION. 



appear to have comprehended, under the name of Arabia, the whole 
tract lying between those seas, and a line drawn from the point of the 
Persian to that of the Arabic Gulph. This line, however, was not the 
real boundary of the country, but merely fancied to be such by igno- 
rance. Arabia forms a spacious triangle of irregular dimensions ; and 
is bounded on the east, by the Persian Gulph and the Euphrates; on 
the west, by that of Arabia, now called the Red Sea ; and on the south, 
by part of the Indian Ocean, anciently the Erythraean Sea, to which it 
presents a front of one thousand miles. The apex of the triangle is 
placed at Thapsacus (El-Dur) ; through the fords of which Xenophon 
conducted his Greeks, on their memorable retreat, across the Euphrates.* 
From this northern summit to its southern base, along the Indian 
Ocean, the length of Arabia stretches nearly fifteen hundred miles ; 
and it's superficial content is fully eight times the measure of Great 
Britain. 

Although this peninsula was peopled from the earliest times, yet it 
never admitted of a population, at all proportioned to its dimensions: 
for the far greater part of Arabia consists only of a sandy plain, inter- 
sected by sharp and naked rocks, situate in a happier climate indeed, 
but more destitute of wood and water than even the deserts of Tartary. 
In the midst of dreary wastes, spots of scanty vegetation are nourished 
by the dews of night : the tamarind, acacia, and other hardy plants, 
strike their roots into the clefts of rocks ; and several stations must be 
traversed by caravans, before the exhausted travellers can reach a well 
of water to assuage their burning thirst. Such is the general condition 
of Neged or the Sandy Arabia, the Arabia Deserta of ancient geogra- 
phers : but fertility begins with the high lands, particularly those bor- 
dering on the Indian Ocean, which are distinguished by shady groves 
and flowing streams. The air of this division is more temperate, and 

* De Exped. Cyri, p. 257, edit. Leunclav. 



INTRODUCTION. 



3 



consequently more favourable to population : and the numbers, both of 
men and of animals, are considerably greater than in the former region- 
Among the vegetable productions, the palms and vines are exuberantly 
fruitful : and frankincense, the most esteemed of aromatics, was pro- 
duced here in greater abundance than in any other country of antiquity. 
Contrasted with the inland solitudes, which form the great body of the 
peninsula, this maritime district well deserved to be called the Happy 
Arabia, the Arabia Felix of ancient geographical writers. These divi- 
sions, however, of Arabia, into the Sandy or Desert, the Stony, and the 
Happy, are unknown to the natives themselves : and modern historians 
have remarked it as a singular circumstance, that a country, whose 
language and inhabitants have ever been the same, should retain 
scarcely a vestige of its ancient geography. The maritime districts of 
Bahrein and Oman are opposite to the Persian empire : the kingdom 
of Yamen displays the limits, or at least the situation of Arabia Felix : 
the name of Najd, or Neged, is extended over the inland space ; and 
the province of Hijaz which spreads itself along the coast of the Red 
Sea, — though inferior in fertility and beauty to that of Yamen, which it 
resembles in many particulars, — has become illustrious from being the 
birth-place of Mahomet.* 

The Koran frequently boasts of the situation of Arabia, as being 
placed in the middle of the world, for the more easy and rapid diffusion 
of the faith of Islam. f Arabia was certainly encompassed by the 
greatest and richest countries of antiquity. Towards the north, its 
deserts are contiguous to Assyria and Syria, that is, to Aram on both 
sides of the Euphrates, the earliest seats of civilization and power: on 
the south and east, a sea of no great extent divides Arabia from India ; 
from Persia it is disjoined only by a narrow streight ; and one equally 

* Strabo, 1. xvi. p. 1110 (torn. ii. ed. Oxon.) Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Em- 
pire, vol. ix. p. 222. Sale's Koran, pp. 1, 3. t Koran, ch. ii. 



4 



INTRODUCTION 



narrow unites it in commerce with Egypt and Ethiopia. This advan- 
tageous situation, which Mahomet assumes as destined for the propa- 
gation of the only true faith, history proves to have been efficacious, 
from the earliest time, in very important transactions, both of war and 
of commerce.* 

From the dawn of recorded history the natives of Arabia have appeared 
with the same characteristic features ; — men of open hearts and boiling 
passions, quick in apprehension, articulate and voluble of speech, with 
ardour to undertake great enterprises, and with a presence of mind and 
perseverance every way adapted to carry them into execution. They 
were divided into various tribes, occasionally friendly or hostile, under 
governments that might be called free when compared with those of 
any other portion of the East, not excepting the kindred pastoral plains 
of Scythia or Tartary. What the Goths were in Europe, the Arabs 
have always been in Asia, — pre-eminent in boldness to act and in pa- 
tience to suffer ; and hence they have been peculiarly distinguished by 
the sense of personal freedom and the love of national independence. 
With such hardy dispositions, confirmed into habit by perpetual col- 
lision in their commercial expeditions and continued pastoral migra- 
tions, it might be expected that their martial spirit would be marked in 
deep characters upon the nations around them ; and, to check their 
incursions, it is related that Sesostris erected the long wall of fifteen 
hundred stadia from Pelusium to Heliopolis. Of the battles fought by 
the Arabians before the time of Mahomet, seventeen hundred are 
recorded by tradition : but the poems, which they boasted of possessing 
instead of written laws, served to little purpose in governing either 
themselves or the people whom they subjugated. 

Though divided into small communities, their admiration of valour 
or their superstition could often unite their winged archers and cavalry 
* The commerce of the Arabs is noticed infra, Part II. Chap. II. Sect. I. 



INTRODUCTION. 5 

under a single standard. This must have happened before they could 
have effected the first of their recorded conquests, in the interval which 
elapsed between Joseph and Moses. During that period, the shepherd 
Kings of Arabia completed the subjugation of Egypt, then the most 
flourishing kingdom of the world.* " The King, who knew not 
Joseph, " t exactly accords with the notices of profane history, and 
marks the establishment of a new dynasty. It is a circumstance highly 
worthy of observation, that the ancient Arabian conquerors, like the 
victorious Mahometans of later times, left at home behind them, the 
native virtues of the deserts : instead of mild patriarchs, with their 
council of elders and the congregation of the people, they passed at one 
bound from simplicity to luxury ; adopted the vices of the vanquished 
nations, and speedily became the victims of their own wretched passions. 

The next memorable achievement of the Arabs happened at the dis- 
tance of several centuries, that is, about 1230 years before the Christian 
aera. A little before this time, their tribes had been united under a 
chief, called Ariaeus by the Greeks, perhaps the Haleth of the Arabs. 
This was the age of Ninus, the first great Asiatic conqueror ; whose 
actions are authenticated by the combined evidence of history and mo- 
numents. Ariaeus, instead of extending his conquests westward, was 
desirous of participating in the richer spoils of the east. He easily 
associated his arms with those of Ninus : for the Assyrians and Arabs 
had long been connected in commerce ; they professed the same Sabian 
religion ; and the language of Aram on both sides of the river, that is 
of Assyria in its largest sense, was essentially the same with that spoken 
by the Arabians,^ whether resident in cities or wanderers of the desert. 

The diffusion of Saracen invaders through Egypt and the East, it 
might be expected, would totally exhaust a country always thinly 

* Josephus cont. Apion. 1. i. c. 14, and Marsham's Can. Chron. p. 98, et seq. 
f Exodus, ch. i. v. 8. % Strabo, L. ], p. 59 (ed. Oxon.) 



6 



INTRODUCTION. 



peopled : but these drains of population, such are the constitutions and 
climate of the Arabians, have always been speedily supplied. In 
conformity with what is observed in other lands producing the hardiest 
natives, Arabia is rather a foundry than a magazine of men : the 
territory may pour forth a large proportion of its people ; but the 
prolific energy of a single age is sufficient to restore that measure of 
population which the soil is calculated to nourish. Accordingly we 
find, that from the age of Ninus to that of Mahomet, none of the 
great nations, that controlled the revolutions of the world, ever gained 
any important trophies in Arabia. Of the Persians under both 
dynasties, as well as of the Greeks, Parthians, and Romans, some 
valorous achievements are recorded ; and some important successes in 
Arabia are said to have been obtained by them. On a closer exami- 
nation, however, all these advantages, some of which flattery has 
magnified into conquests, will appear to have been local and transient : 
whereas the Arabians, either as principals, or more frequently as 
allies, interposed with dignity and effect in the affairs of their neigh- 
bours, and generally threw the balance of success on the side which 
they espoused. The modern Persians,* therefore, only betrayed their 
ignorance in ancient history, when they vilified the Arabs as a race of 
Tazis, or coursers, who fed on lizards, and drank the milk of camels ; 
but the burst of valour displayed under the successors of Mahomet and 
their generals, taught the Persian poets to assume a different tone, to 
celebrate the Arabs " as a people exulting in liberty, delighting in 
eloquence, in acts of liberality, and in martial achievements, as making 
the whole earth red with the blood of their foes, and the air like a 
forest of canes with their tall spears." 

* The Persians have always been called Barbarians by the Arabs, as well as by the Greeks. 
Abulfeda, p. 194. 



INTRODUCTION. 



7 



CHAPTER II. 

An Account of the Arabs, from the time of Mahomet till the Arrival of 3fusa, 
at Tangier s. — State of Spain previously to its Invasion by the Moors. 

Th£ eloquence of the Arabs, however extolled by Ferdausi, has served 
but little to illustrate their early history. Their first composition in 
prose, that remains to us, is the Koran of Mahomet. Their only do- 
mestic records consist of the remains of ancient poets preserved from 
one generation to another by oral tradition, and whose poems have been 
commented upon, by various expositions and notes and genealogies, 
the work of far later times, but all equally traditional. Although the 
art of writing was either unknown or at least but little practised among 
the Arabs, their language had early attained to great improvement, 
both as to the number of words and the precision of phrases, and the 
poorest among them had learned to express themselves in flowing and 
forcible periods. This distinction is doubtless primarily to be ascribed 
to their pre-eminence in liberty above other Asiatic nations. But it was 
augmented and confirmed by a singularity in their institutions, which 
deserves to be commemorated and admired. The cities of Hijaz along 
the Red Sea, as well as those of Yamen on the Indian Ocean, were 
staples of trade, carried on among distant and often hostile nations, 
under the protection of temples and superstition. These sacred cities, 
like innumerable others in the upper as well as the lower Asia, had their 
annual fairs of two months, distinguished by various sports and cere- 
monies, and particularly by intellectual competitions of poetry and 
eloquence ; in which, under the eye of approved judges, as in the 



8 



INTRODUCTION. 



Olympic, and other sacred games of Greece, the candidates for fame 
disputed with each other the palm of those noble attainments.* In 
both countries, the high perfection even of unwritten language was 
the natural result. 

The general introduction of writing leads to composition in prose : 
before this takes place, laws, religion, history, and genealogies are all 
taught and communicated in verse, which alone can be handed down 
with certainty from parents to children through a long chain of tradition. 
Mahomet himself could neither read nor write ; yet, to an Arabian ear 
and understanding, the wildest chapter in his Koran is stamped with 
the ineffable graces and resistless vigour of diction. It was promulgated 
by small divisions in the course of twenty-three years, as conjunctures 
and exigencies required : of this composition, which first infused into 
prose all the harmony and animation of poetry, great was the effect 
among a people, with whom the culture of eloquence had long been a 
national concern ; and who from nature, and habitual indulgence were 
peculiarly prone to the illusions of an overheated fancy. As the Athe- 
nians acknowledged inspiration in the forcible and flowing oratory of 
Gorgias of Leontium, and would have worshipped him as a God, so the 
Arabs, — men of still warmer minds — imagined that they saw the hand 
of the Almighty in the work of Mahomet. No uninspired mortal, they 
affirmed, is capable of wielding the vast fabric of their language. 
Mahomet boldly exhibited his Koran as a clear and perpetually 
existing proof of the divinity of his mission. This evidence, always 
open to examination, was the strongest, he maintained, that could be 
brought : it was a standing miracle totally superseding the necessity of 
every other. 

The genius of Mahomet, his enthusiasm, his eloquence, and memory, 
were favoured by peculiar accidents of birth and fortune. In the 

* Schultens in Prsefat. ad Monument. Vetust. Arab. 



INTRODUCTION. 



9 



language of his countrymen he sprung from the race of Thenanah, the 
best of the Arabs, from the tribe of Koreish, the best of Thenanah, and 
was the direct descendant of Hashiin, the best of the Koreish.* The 
family of Hashim held a sort of hereditary, but very limited jurisdiction 
over Mecca and its territory, as ordinary presidents of the famous Caaba 
or temple, of which they possessed the keys. The government of this 
city, whose Arabic name denotes a crowded rendezvous, might have 
rewarded the abilities and gratified the ambition of Mahomet. He 
would then have been distinguished, like many of his progenitors, by 
uniting the office of priest and king, — a priest of tutelary idols, and a 
king, or rather judge, over the citizens and strangers, who partook in 
the religious rites and frequented the fairs of Mecca. But continued 
views of the surrounding nations, gained in his commercial expeditions 
carried on by caravans, inspired him about his fortieth year with far 
loftier views. f This period of Mahomet's life corresponded with the 
greatest depression of the Persian and Roman empires. The Western 
part of the latter had been conquered and usurped by the Goths : the 
Eastern, from its capital often denominated the Constantinopolitan em- 
pire, was engaged in ceaseless wars with Persia, alike ruinous to the vic- 
tors and to the vanquished ; since, jealousy and tyranny having disarmed 
the subjects of both empires, the waste occasioned by war could only 
be supplied by mercenaries or slaves. While those rival monarchies 
were inflicting dreadful wounds on each other, both were harassed by 
predatory incursions of Huns, Avars, and other nations of Scythian 
descent, then hovering like ravenous vultures over the rich plains and 
populous cities of Southern Asia ; and both Persians and Greeks were 
distracted by domestic dissensions of the most virulent nature. Heresies 
increased in the Christian church and expanded under the rage of too 
fervid zeal, and the reeking hands of persecution ; while abstruse and 
* Ockley's Hist. Saracens, v. i. p. 288. f Prideaux, Sale, Gagnier, in their lives of Mahomet. 



10 



INTRODUCTION. 



barren dogmas, and the adoration of the Virgin Mary and of images, 
were substituted for the heavenly temper, the purity, simplicity, and 
solemnity of the Gospel.* 

At this time Mahomet began to announce himself a prophet, declar- 
ing irreconcilable enmity against every species of idolatry, asserting the 
sole dominion of one God ; and characterising those who embraced this 
doctrine by the name of Musulman, or Moslems, that is, persons per- 
fectly resigned to the divine will. In the first three years of his mission, 
the number of his proselytes scarcely exceeded a dozen: in about ten 
years afterwards he was of importance enough to be persecuted by the 
Koreish and driven from his native city, Mecca, A. D. 622. His flight, 
however, was accompanied by zealous converts and faithful friends ; and 
the neighbouring city, Medina, already contained many who acknow- 
ledged him for the apostle of God, and who were ready to take up arms 
in his cause. Encouraged by such a reinforcement, and by various 
consequent advantages in the field, he, who had hitherto trusted the 
propagation of his faith to missionaries, armed only with the persuasive 
eloquence of his Koran, now boldly pronounced the indispensable duty 
of extending his religion by the sword, t This religion of Islam, which 
signifies devotion to the service of God, is summed up in zealous exer- 
tions for making converts, and in rendering those converts soldiers. To 
these duties they are stimulated by every motive of hope or fear in the 
present life, or in that which is to come ; and such is the influence of 
enthusiasm directed by craft, that before his death, in the twenty-third 
year of his pretended mission, Mahomet had united under his banners 
all the tribes of Arabia ; and one of the boldest of his votaries, Kalid, 
surnamed the Sword of God, with an handful of men, had defeated an 
army one hundred thousand strong, assembled in Syria, under the 
generals of the Emperor Heraclius.J 

* Prideaux's Life of Mahomet. t Sale's Life of Mahomet. % Ockley, vol. i. p. 27. 



INTRODUCTION. 



11 



The successors of Alexander the Great laboriously upheld the con- 
quests of their master. But the Khalifs, that is, the successors of 
Mahomet, in the course of little more than twenty years, extended their 
resistless arms above a thousand miles on all sides around them. The 
habits of the Arabs admirably conspired with the military code of their 
prophet. They seldom ate flesh ; their drink, before Mahomet con- 
verted this into a law, was chiefly water ; when they wished for repose, 
the ground, bare, or covered simply with a mat, afforded their only 
accommodation.* This primitive austerity was heightened by the ex- 
ample of the first Khalifs into a kind of sacred military duty. These 
extraordinary men, Abu Bakr, Omar, Othman, and Ali, who had been 
companions of the prophet, and had shared in all his dangers, having 
obtained the sacerdotal and royal supremacy at advanced periods of 
life, did not indeed assume the command of their armies, or appear 
personally in the field. f They regarded it as their more immediate 
duty to perform the rites of religion, and to uphold the observance of 
justice in their capitals of Mecca and Medina : the latter city being 
their usual residence; and the former, only the object of their frequent 
pilgrimage. From those places they maintained, by letters, a general 
superintendance over the affairs of Arabia : and, when the Saracens 
burst as an inundation on the countries around them, the wisdom of the 
Khalifs alternately impelled, or restrained their course ; regulated the 
distribution of plunder, of which one-fifth was unalterably dedicated to 
the public treasury; and adjusted the conditions of subjection, and the 
rules of administration to be observed by their lieutenants in the con- 
quered provinces. 

In the first year of Abu Bakr, the first Khalif, the Saracens, ani- 
mated by the hope of plunder, or of Paradise, in armies of fifteen and 
twenty thousand men, but generally followed by reinforcements equally 
* Sale's Koran, p. 123. t Ockley, vol. i. passim. 



12 



INTRODUCTION. 



numerous, directed their valour and enthusiasm against the two greatest 
empires then in the world ; and assailed them respectively in their richest 
provinces. The Roman Empire of Constantinople, after its European 
dependencies had been invaded and conquered by the Goths, still 
possessed invaluable dominions, which might have formed the materials 
of many powerful monarchies ; — the spacious peninsula of Lesser Asia, 
encompassed by three seas and rich maritime emporiums, — Syria, 
including Phoenicia and Palestine, with its fertile vallies and splendid 
cities, raised or adorned by the magnificence of the Seleucidae, — Egypt 
still abounding with an immense population, and the granary of sur- 
rounding nations, — together with the long sleeve of the JMantle, as it 
was called, extending along the shore of Assyria, from Egypt to the 
Atlantic, and including the once renowned dominions of Cyrene and 
Carthage. The imperial country of Mesopotamia, in the largest sense 
of the word, comprehending the whole of the territory between the 
Euphrates and Tigris, (which had been the seat of Assyrian power, 
and which has boasted successively of Nineveh, Babylon, Seleucia, 
Ctesiphon, and Bagdad, the greatest capitals of the world,) had, after 
the downfall of Alexander's empire, been the doubtful frontier between 
the Romans and Parthians for upwards of three centuries, and after- 
wards became the debateable ground between the Roman emperors of 
Constantinople, and the Persians of the house of Sassan. In the decline 
of the former, the Persians had overleaped that boundary ; they were 
undisputed masters of Babylon, or Irac Arabi, with all the magnifi- 
cence of its gorgeous capital, called Modain, or the two cities, because it 
united Seleucia and Ctesiphon ; which, on opposite sides of the Tigris, 
had formed in immediate succession the bulwarks of Macedonian and 
Parthian power. From Irac and Modain the dominion of Yezdegerd, 
the last sovereign of the house of Sassan, extended to the North and 
East, over Media, Persis, Persia Proper, Khorasan, comprehending the 



INTRODUCTION. 



Asia Margiana and Bactria of the ancients, and all the inferior provinces 
of central Asia to the confines of Tartary and India. 

Had the Saracens been guided more by policy than vy enthusiasm, 
they would have maintained peace with one of those mighty powers, 
until they had inflicted mortal wounds on the other. But simultaneous 
irruptions were made into Syria and Irac : after a fierce warfare in 
both, the force of Syria was first broken in the plain of Aiznadin, 
near Damascus, by Kalid, with numbers far inferior to the seventy 
thousand Greeks, Romans, and Syrians who fought against him. A 
second victory on the banks of the Yermouk, an obscure river which 
falls into the lake of Tiberias, decided the fortune of the war. Hera- 
clius, the Greek emperor, who had not been present in either action, 
terrified by dreams and omens, fled secretly to the sea shore and 
embarked for Constantinople. Jerusalem, Damascus, and Antioch, 
together with all the other Syrian cities, were conquered by the force 
of the Moslems, or by their own terrors : the inhabitants either acknow- 
ledged the divine authority of the Koran, submitted to pay tribute, 
or suffered confiscation and death. The resources, acquired by these 
victorious campaigns in one of the richest countries of Asia, facilitated 
the progress of conquest. The Saracens had penetrated the Syrian 
gates, entered within the confines of the peninsula of Lesser Asia, and 
extended their desolating arms to Taurus in Cilicia. The possession 
of harbours gave them the command of fleets ; they rode masters of the 
Mediterranean, and captured, in succession, the islands of Cyprus, 
Rhodes, the Cyclades, and other celebrated isles of Greece.* Their 
success in the West was rivalled and outshone by their eastern triumphs. 
The sceptre of the great king was then in the feeble hands of the boy 
Yezdegerd ; who committed the defence of his dominions to Rustan, a 
general, whose conspicuous name had been borne by an ancient heroj 

* Al Wakidi, and other Arabian authors cited by Ockley, vol. i. 



14 



INTRODUCTION. 



the Hercules of Persia. Under Abu Musa, Said, and others of Omar's 
captains, the Arabs had made incursions into Babylonia, and had 
returned to the western bank of the Euphrates loaded with plunder. 
Their camp was pitched at Cadesia, a place two stations west of the 
modern Cufa, and an hundred miles south-west of the ancient Babylon, 
on the very margin of the Syrian desert ; whose contiguous gloom im- 
parted, through contrast, additional life and beauty to the palms and 
bubbling fountains of Cadesia. To this place the standard of the great 
king, committed to Rustan, was accompanied by an hundred and 
twenty thousand men ; the greater part of whom being hastily levied in 
the eastern provinces, deserved not to be honoured with the name of 
soldiers. The Arabs prepared for action, after sending messengers to 
recall their roving parties, who, at convenient distances, hovered over 
the wealth and weakness of Assyria. During the desultory combat 
which ensued, and which, by flying skirmishes and single combats, was 
prolonged for several days, their numbers were augmented by rein- 
forcements from fourteen to thirty thousand. In the rear of his un- 
wieldy host, reclining in the cool breeze under his shadowy pavilion, 
amidst the operose accommodation of luxury, and trains of mules laden 
with silver and gold, Rustan the Persian general, — so unworthy of the 
name he bore, and of the office with which he was entrusted, — was alarm- 
ed by the clang of arms and the approaching tumult. He started from 
his silken couch, not to encounter the enemy, but to betake himself to a 
shameful flight. His horse was interrupted by an alert and fierce Arab, 
who caught Rustan by the foot, struck off his head, hoisted it on a 
spear, and carrying it into the still disputed part of the field, completed 
the consternation and despair of the flying Persians. 

Dreadful must have been the havoc of the vanquished, since the 
Saracens confessed a loss of more than seven thousand warriors. The 
destruction of the enemy opened a way for the victors across the rivers 



INTRODUCTION. 



15 



and canals of Babylonia. Shortly after the battle, the Arabs under Said 
crossed the Tigris without opposition, assailed and took the imperial city 
Ctesiphon, or Modain, which contained the residence, the arsenal, and 
the treasures of the great king. The Arabs were at once masters of 
riches surpassing their fondest hopes. Their booty in money was com- 
puted at three thousand millions of pieces of gold, a sum of accumulation 
ascending in the scale of numbers a whole step above the denomination, 
to which debts of extraordinary profusion have familiarised English 
ears. The arsenals of Modain furnished instruments for new victories : 
the rich furniture, the precious sindones or hangings, the carpets 
flowered and embroidered, above all, the gorgeous wardrobe of the great 
king, formed objects neither of admiration nor use to a simple and 
warlike people, who had learned that gold, and all it can purchase, 
may be speedily acquired by iron. This unparalleled wealth, though 
attested by original and authentic writers,* has been brought into sus- 
picion and doubt, by the criticism of that class of modern historians, 
who, moulding their own sentiments on the narrow prejudices of their 
readers and the fashion of the times, are always unwilling to admit 
what their contemporaries or themselves have not seen or experienced; 
and who, incredulous to all besides, have no faith to bestow but oti the 
deductions of their own reasonings, which are often the illusions of their 
own sophistry. Such writers, always too prone to substitute conjec- 
tures in the stead of facts, would have been less indulgent to this pro- 
pensity on the present occasion, if they had considered that the territory 
of Mod ain had, from the age of Ninus and Semiramis, continued imme- 
morial ly the seat of empire ; and that in it were concentrated the 
accumulated treasures of the successive capitals of Nineveh, Babylon, 
Seleucia, and Ctesiphon. Of the wealth of Modain itself, a fifth part 
was, according to the Mahometan institutions, consecrated to the public 

* Abulfeda, Elmacin, &c. 



16 



INTRODUCTION. 



service ; but a considerable proportion of the remainder must have been 
transferred to Bassora and Ctifa, or Coufa,* cities founded by the Arabs 
on the western side of the Euphrates, almost immediately after their 
conquest of Babylonia ; and which continued to be the seat of their 
jurisdiction over all the southern provinces of the Persian empire, till 
they wese eclipsed by the dignity and power of Bagdad, the establish- 
ment and royal seat of the Abassides. 

Yezdegerd, meanwhile, joined an army collected in the East to 
defend the vast region of Khorasan, comprehending the Asia Margiana 
and Bactria of the ancients, and famous in modern times under the 
Tartar kings, for the four royal residences of Neisabour, Herat, Mara, 
andBalkh.f The Arabs pursued his footsteps thither; several battles 
were fought, particularly the bloody engagement of Gialoulah ; after 
which Chorasan submitted to the arms of the invaders, and Yezdegerd, 
swiftly escaping across the river Gihon, or Oxus, craved assistance in 
Bucharia from Tarchon the Turk. But the new ally was, through the 
pride, it is said, of Yezdegerd, speedily converted into an enemy ; and 
the last Persian king of the house of Sassan experienced a similar fate 
to that of Darius Codomannus, the last of the Achaemenid*e. Precisely 
in the same country, after being defeated by his barbarian allies, he 
was pursued and slain by his treacherous servant Maheva, as Darius 
had been by Bessus.J The spirit of the Medes and Persians, however, 
was not yet totally subdued. Their last effort was made to preserve 
the fine country of Media, the largest and most populous of their 
ancient Satrapies. The Arabs, under Nomman and Hedaijah, met 
them there in the neighbourhood of the renowned Nisaen pastures ; 
and the battle of Nehauend, begun by Nomman, who fell during the 
action, was successfully terminated by Hedaijah. This battle is called 

* See the article Coufa, in D'Herbelot, vol. i. p. 550. 4to. edit. t Abulfeda. 

\ Confer Abulpharagius Dynast, p. 116, and Arrian Exped. Alexand. 1. iii. c. 21, 



INTRODUCTION. 



17 



the victory of victories : no further resistance was made by the central 
nations of Asia, from Tarsus in Cilicia to the confines of India ; — all 
accepted the religion of Islam, or submitted to become tributaries. 

Persia was reduced under the Khilafat of Othman ; Syria, a few years 
before, under that of Omar. From Syria, Amru, the lieutenant of Omar, 
invaded Egypt (A. D. 638), the most valuable province belonging to 
the Greek emperors, and then the chief granary of Constantinople, as 
it had formerly been of Rome. This country, though it had declined 
from its renown under the Pharaohs and the Ptolemies, was still amply 
provided with resources for defence. Its cities were solidly constructed ; 
they were fortified with strong walls, which might easily be encom- 
passed with water : their Greek defenders were numerous, and animated 
with unusual zeal for maintaining possessions in which they enjoyed 
many exclusive advantages, and from which they derived vast riches. 
But all this exterior shew of health and vigour was fatally gangrened 
within. The Greeks were, for the most part, Melechites, that is, royal 
and orthodox Christians, holding the same creed with the emperor. 
The Copts, or native inhabitants of Egypt, were Jacobites, that is, 
heretics, denying the distinction of natures in the person of Christ.* 
Through the voluntary submission of the Copts, who preferred foreign 
invaders to domestic oppressors, the Arabs made an easy progress 
through an intricate country : they were resisted one month atPharmah, 
or Pelusea, seven months at Misrah, or Memphis, and fourteen at 
Alexandria, the chief bulwark of the kingdom. After the taking of 
this city, into which the Greeks had fled from all quarters to escape the 
fury of the Saracens, exasperated by the vengeance of the Egyptian 
heretics, Amru wrote to Omar, that he had conquered the great city of 
the West, containing four thousand palaces, four thousand baths, four 
hundred theatres or places of public amusement, and twelve thousand 

* Mosheim's Eccl. Hist. vol. ii. pp. 145, 146. 8vo. edit. 

D 



18 



INTRODUCTION. 



shops for the sale of vegetable food ; and, as the place had been gained 
by assault, he wished to know whether the Moslems were to be gratified 
with the spoil.* The Khalif, in his answer, censured Amru for once 
mentioning the name of spoil. The fruits of so valuable a conquest 
ought to be consecrated to the propagation of the faith, and the exi- 
gencies of the public service ; no waste was to be committed ; and the 
future tribute to be levied on the country, computed at six millions 
sterling, might also be carefully treasured up at Alexandria, to reward 
the labours and supply the wants of the faithful. f 

The Arabs had now trampled on the nations of the East, that were 
most renowned in history. Persia, with its provinces, was subdued ; 
and at the expense of the Greek empire, they had acquired Syria and 
Egypt. Had their sole object been wealth or power, they ought here 
to have paused ; since their dominion, extending over the countries 
best provided with the resources of war or peace, terminated on one 
side with the Oxus, and the confines of inhospitable Scythia; and 
on the other side, with the mountains to the west of the Nile, separating 
the rich valley of Egypt from the sandy deserts of Lybia. Having sub- 
dued the delightful regions of Southern Asia, abounding in whatever 
can gratify the senses or please the fancy, their conquests thus brought 
them to rugged wilds and dreary solitudes, inhabited by fierce Nomadic 
nations, whose valour was their principal wealth ; and whose patient 
endurance of toil and hardships was their only virtue. To the views of 
human policy, a warfare with such nations presented much to lose, and 
scarcely any thing to gain. But the Saracens, under the influence of 
a two-fold euthusiasm — religious and military — saw no bounds to their 
ambitious zeal ; while there remained an infidel to convert by the sword 
to the religion of their prophet. At the eastern extremities of their 

* Eutychius Annal. vol. ii. p. 296—322. Conf. Ockley, vol. i. p. 301, et seq. 
t Theophanius Chronograph, p. 280, et seq. 



INTRODUCTION. 



19 



empire, Bactria, a division of Khorasan, was separated by the Oxus 
from Sogdia, part of the modern Bucharia. Under the ancient Greek 
appellations, both of those countries had been visited by Alexander 
the Great, and were observed by him with the eye of a statesman, 
rather than of a conqueror. He passed the Oxus, and over-ran Sogdia, 
which lies between this river and the Jaxartes. The latter, and more 
northern of those streams, he established as his boundary with the 
fierce Scythians ; and the districts on its banks were, in this view, 
bridled with garrisons and fortified by strong holds : but in another 
view, as commanding the courses of great rivers, particularly of the 
Oxus, which long after his time* flowed into the Caspian Sea, Bactria 
and Sogdia were adorned by cities and temples, as well as enriched by 
staples of trade and stations of caravans. Under the first Syrian suc- 
cessors of Alexander, the trade of India was connected with that of the 
Mediterranean, principally through this great inland channel ; until, 
an hundred and twenty years before Christ, the Greek kings of Sogdia 
and Bactria were swept away by a desolating invasion of the Scythians. 
This event, attested by the combined authority of the Grecian and 
Chinese annals, f doubtless produced many mournful effects : but the 
several staples of trade, inhabited by Greeks, and by such of the natives 
as conformed to their manners and complied with their institutions, still 
continued to subsist, and to carry on commerce under the protection of 
the shepherds of the desert. These emporiums of Sogdia were surrounded 
by a double fortification, the outermost of which enclosed gardens, 
fields, and rich pastures. Such were Alexandria or Cagent, Chorasmia 
or Carisme, Moraimda or Samarcand, at the time when the resistless 
spirit of the Arabs spurned the boundary of the Oxus. But many 
inroads were made, and many battles fought between the Arabs and the 

* Till A. D. 1640. 

f Confer Strabo, 1. xi. p. 745, 746 (ed. Oxon.) and De Guigne's Memoire sur LaBactriane. 



20 



INTRODUCTION. 



branch of Scythians called Turks, before Sogdia, (which was then 
included under the more general name of Transoxiana, the country 
north of the Oxus) was finally subdued by Katibah, the camel-driver, 
lieutenant to the Khalif Walid.* By him the idolatrous temples, with 
their idols, were levelled in the dust, a mosque was erected in Chorasmia, 
and the inhabitants of the other cities were either converted to the 
Koran, or put to the sword, or the vanquished subjected to an annual 
contribution. 

The same impetuous spirit, which carried the Arabs towards the 
wilds of Tartary, made them fearlessly plunge into the sandy ocean of 
Africa. That ever barbarous quarter of the world is thrown over the 
two great divisions of Lybia and Ethiopia, that is, of Barbary and 
Soudan, by the intermediate Sahara, a large belt of sand, extending a 
thousand miles in breadth across the whole continent which it deforms. 
The northern of these divisions, stretching along the Mediterranean, 
from the Atlantic to Egypt, had anciently comprehended the king- 
doms of Mauritania and Numidia, together with the dominions of 
Carthage, a Phenician colony, and with those of Cyrene, a colony 
of the Greeks. All these possessions had been over-run, conquered, 
and usurped by the Romans. On the decline of the Roman empire 
in the West, they had been invaded and desolated by the Vandals. 
From those unworthy masters they had been wrested by Belisarius, 
the general of Justinian ; and, when the Arabs marched against 
them, they still acknowledged the authority of the Roman emperors 
of Constantinople. If the Mahometans had been guided in their 
enterprises merely by worldly motives, it might have been a powerful 
incitement to dispossess their Grecian enemies of the southern shores of 
the Mediterranean. With their manners and pursuits, the acquisition 
also of the vast inland plains offered to them by no means a con- 

* Confer Elmacin Hist. Saracen, p. 84, and De Guigne's Hist, des Huns, vol. i. 



INTRODUCTION. 



21 



temptible prize. The nature of the soil and climate was entirely similar 
to that of the greater part of Arabia. The inhabitants, Moors or 
Barbars, led the same kind of life with that of the Badoweens. Their 
tents and camels were continually in motion ; and by means of the 
various Oases, or islands, which chequered the sandy Sahara, they 
carried on a distant traffic with the natives of Ethiopia, or Soudan.* 
The Lybians and Ethiopians had, indeed, been immemorially connected 
through the urgency of mutual wants. Ethiopia produced ivory, 
ebony, gems, and gold in great abundance ; but was so greatly defi- 
cient in salt, that this necessary article could only be procured by 
penetrating deeply into the desert Sahara, to those salt springs forming 
innumerable granulous hillocks of salt, interspersed, as it were, at con- 
venient distances through its whole longitude. Thither the Ethiopians 
came with their easily transportable, because highly precious, commo- 
dities, and met, in a manner, mid-way, the Lybian caravans ; which, 
returning towards the sea coast of the Mediterranean, disposed of their 
valuable merchandise at an immense profit. f Similar commercial ex- 
peditions had been familar to the Arabs from the earliest times ; but } 
since the age of their prophet, the propagation of their religion formed 
the great, or rather the sole incentive to all their undertakings. 

Such was the avowed motive of the Khalif Othman, when he sent 
from Medina to Egypt, and from Egypt into Africa, Abdallah the son 
of Said, the boldest horseman of Arabia. When reinforced in Egypt, 
Abdallah was at the head of forty thousand fanatics, to whom the 
deserts of Marmaria and Barca, so formidable to the Roman legions, 
presented no terrors. They penetrated $ above nine hundred miles 
victoriously to Tripoli, then a rich and populous sea-port ; and which, 
under its ancient Greek name, still holds, after Tunis and Algiers, the 

* Herodot. 1. iii. c. ] 14, et seq. (ed. Oxon.) Conf. descrip. de la Negritie. 

t Herodot. ibid. Conf. Bruce's Travels, vol. i. p. 382. % A.D. 647- 



22 



INTRODUCTION. 



third place among the Barbary states. From the siege and assault of 
this place, the Moslems were diverted by hearing, that Gregory, the im- 
perial prefect, had taken the field with an army of 120,000 men, Greeks, 
Moors, or Lybians.* Abdallah encountered and totally defeated this 
disorderly host, a remnant of which flying to Sofatala, involved in ruin 
that wealthy city, still recognisable at the distance of 150 miles to the 
south of Carthage, by temples, aqueducts, and other remains of Roman 
magnificence. Abdallah's victory was followed by the ready submission 
of all around him. Many adopted the faith of Islam, and all who re- 
fused it consented to pay tribute : but the Moslems, exhausted by fa- 
tigue and an epidemic disease, after an expedition of fifteen months, 
returned into Egypt with abundance of booty indeed, but without gain- 
ing any fast hold of their African conquests. 

The disputed succession of Ali to Othman, (A. D. 665-709) and the 
internal dissensions, which naturally follow in the train of great external 
prosperity, suspended above twenty years the western trophies of the 
Saracens. During that interval the ministers of the Greek emperor 
Constantine, surnamed Pogonatus, or the Bearded, with a policy equally 
absurd and flagitious, imposed new taxes on their African subjects, by 
way of compensation or fine for the tribute, which these unhappy men 
had consented to pay to the Khalifs.| Under such a tyrannical govern- 
ment, little resistance was to be expected, when Acbah, lieutenant to the 
Khalif Moawiyah, marched at the head of ten thousand of the bravest 
Arabs, reinforced by the fears and discontents of innumerable Africans. 
He traversed the whole continent to Tingi or Tangiers, and the pillars 
of Hercules ; and, after penetrating southward to the margin of the 
Sahara, and again returning to the sea-shore opposite to the Canary 
Isles, he then madly plunged his horse into the waves of the Atlantic, 
exclaiming with fanatical transport, " were not my progress stopped 

* Theophanes Chronograph, p. 280. f Theophanes, p. 285. 



INTRODUCTION. 



23 



by this sea, I would still, Great God ! advance to the unknown regions 
of the west, preaching the unity of thy holy name, and destroying the 
idolatrous nations which worship other Gods than thee." * 

The impetuous enthusiasm of Acbah might have been construed into 
magnanimity, had his boldness been supported by prudence. With a 
handful of Arabs he had performed such wonderful exploits as con- 
tinually attracted to his standard crowds of discontented Greeks and 
infuriated Africans. But he was too incautious of guarding against 
the perfidy of the one, or the levity of the other. Of the general mutiny 
just ready to explode, Acbah was apprised by an Arabian chief, who 
had seditiously disputed with him the command, and was then suffering 
in irons the punishment of his unsuccessful ambition. Acbah released 
him from captivity ; when, instead of retiring to the insurgents who had 
confided in his resentment, he determined to die by the side of his rival. 
They fought with the zeal of martyrdom, and with the ardour of revived 
friendship, and were overwhelmed by resistless numbers among the last 
of their fallen countrymen. 

Zuhair, the third Mahometan commander in Africa, revenged on the 
natives the fate of his predecessor Acbah : but the gratification of pas- 
sion rather than any solid conquest, was the fruit of this expedition 
against them ; and, in his design upon the Greek dependencies on the 
sea coast, he was totally defeated by a powerful armament which Jus- 
tinian II. sent to the. relief of Carthage. 

At length, domestic discord being extinguished by the ascendency 
of the house of Moawiyah, Abdulmalik, the sixth of the Ommiades, un- 
dertook the subjugation of Africa upon a sounder plan, and with far 
superior resources.! The royal standard was committed to Hasan, 
governor of Egypt, and the revenues of that great province were conse- 
crated exclusively to the service. In the first wars of the Saracens there 

* Novairi apud. Otter, p. 119. -f- Abulpharagius, Elmacin, Abulfeda. 



24 



INTRODUCTION 



was little room for the talents of the engineer ; during them, we seldom 
find those military engines, the helepolis, battering ram, or catapult, 
which make such a distinguished figure in the martial operations of the 
Greeks and Romans. To provoke a sally, to lie in an ambush, to sur- 
prise by an assault, to invest a city by armed men rather than by lines 
or walls, and patiently to await the effects of discontent or famine, — 
these were the only arts which the Saracens had long exercised for con- 
quering the strong holds of their enemies. But the subjugation of 
nations, more improved than themselves in the mechanism of warfare, 
gradually invested their warlike souls with arms and instruments. Hasan 
marched from Egypt at the head of forty thousand men, furnished with 
implements calculated for sudden assault, and with others equally well 
adapted for regular sieges. In the year 698, Carthage, still the proud 
capital of Africa, was laid in the dust, notwithstanding powerful suc- 
cours had from Justinian II. Emperor of Constantinople and Egiza the 
Gothic king of Spain ; who was anxious to obstruct the Saracen torrent 
before it should break in fiercely on his own shores.* The smoking 
ruins of Carthage opened the gates of the African sea-ports from Tripoli 
to Tangiers. But the Moors or Barbars of the inland country had as- 
sembled in hostile array under Cahina, whom they acknowledged for 
their queen, and even revered as a prophetess. With an enthusiasm 
equal to their own, and with far superior numbers, she set bounds to 
the Arabian invaders ; and while Hasan retired in expectation of re- 
inforcement from Egypt, Queen Cahina adopted a mode of defence well 
adapted to her own character, and that of her barbarous followers. 
" Our cities" said she, " the gold and precious things which they con- 
tain, have attracted the cupidity of the Arabs : let us demolish these 
cities, let us bury our treasures in their ruins, — by disappointing the 
avarice we shall stop the progress of our foes/ 1 The first operations of 

* Leo Africanus, folio 72. 



INTRODUCTION. 



the Moors corresponded with the fury of Cahina : many populous cities 
were destroyed and the fertile gardens around them were converted into 
deserts.* But such frantic passions are not calculated to last. The 
Moors bewailed the devastation made by their own hands. Hasan 
returned ; the prophetess was slain in the first encounter ; and, when 
the same enthusiastic madness revived under Musa, who had been ap- 
pointed to relieve Hasan in the command, it was resisted and for ever 
stifled by the prudence and energy which were combined in that chief. 
Three hundred thousand invulnerable Africans are said to have been 
dragged by him into captivity ; while the braves't and most docile of 
the Barbarian youth were enlisted in the service of his master the Khalif 
Walid, who had just succeeded to Abdulmalik. The success which 
Musa's skill as a general had acquired, his talents as a preacher con- 
firmed. He discovered the utmost diligence in diffusing the doctrine 
of the Koran and the rites of the Mahometan faith. A superstition, 
indeed, originating in Arabia, might be expected easily to gain ground 
in Africa : not only the aspect of the country, the climate and other 
physical circumstances, are the same : but the pursuits and occupa- 
tions of the Moors have always been much akin with those of the 
Arabs, whether like the Badoweens they remained contented with 
their old pastoral life ; or, whether they improved it like the inhabi- 
tants of Hijaz and Yaman, by the labours of agriculture, and in the 
exercise of that kind of commerce which is carried on by caravans. 
The best and noblest of their foundations in Africa was the city of Cai- 
roan, which name denotes the station of a caravan : it stands above fifty 
miles to the south of Tunis, in a plain destitute of all vegetable food, 
and whose only supply of water is rain, collected and carefully preserved 
in cisterns. Yet in such a situation, Cairoan, founded by Acbah, of 
whom we have before spoken, gradually acquired a numerous population, 

* The Arabian histories above cited. 
E 



26 



INTRODUCTION 



and great opulence. Among its ornamental edifices there was a spacious 
mosque supported by five hundred columns of granite, porphyry, and 
Numidian marble. Such was the influence of the rich commerce above 
described, carried on through central Africa. Cairoan, in a desert, rose 
the Palmyra of Lybia.* 

The activity shewn by Musa in propagating the Mahometan religion 
excited the rivalship of his successors. In less than fifty years after his 
invasion and conquests, the Khalif Abu-l-Abbas, first of the Abassides, 
was informed by Abdurrahman, then lieutenant in Africa, that the tribute 
imposed on the infidels under his government had totally ceased through 
their unanimous adoption of the faith of Islam. The light of Christi- 
anity, which had once shone so brightly along the southern shore of the 
Mediterranean, was extinguished ; and the Moors, while they adopted 
the religion, conformed gradually to the language and manners of their 
conquerors, boasting even an Arabian descent as their highest glory. 
The assistance afforded by the Goths in the defence of Carthage might 
have provoked the invasion of Spain. The state of that kingdom also 
formed a strong temptation to such an enterprise. The Gothic King 
Egiza had been succeeded by Witiza : and the children of Witiza, 
educated on the steps of the throne, had been deprived of the prize that 
seemed to await them, by the elevation of Roderic, the son of a provincial 
governor. As the throne was properly elective, Eba and his younger 
brother dissembled their resentment ; and under the guidance of their 
uncle Oppas, archbishop of Toledo and Seville, pretended the greatest 
zeal for the service of king Roderic, whom, in their hearts, they reprobated 
as an usurper, f To co-operate with this animosity in the great, a secret 
and most virulent enemy lurked in the bosom of the kingdom. From 
the earliest times, Jews mixed with Phoenicians had transported them* 

* Conf. Shaw's Travels, p. 115. Ockley, v. i. p. 129- 

y Cardonne Hist, de l'Afrique, &c. sous les Arabes, torn. i. p. 55, et seq. 



INTRODUCTION. 



27 



selves to the coasts of Spain. A great emigration happened of both 
nations, to escape the resistless invasion and desolating fury of Nebu- 
chadnezzar. In the wide interval between that Assyrian king and 
Hadrian the Roman emperor, many adherents to the Mosaic law had 
exchanged the poverty or oppression, which they suffered in the East, 
to join their distant brethren in Spain; which country abounding in 
gold and silver, formed the Mexico and Peru of antiquity. Thither the 
Emperor Hadrian transported no less than forty thousand families of 
the tribe of Judah, and ten thousand of the tribe of Benjamin.* The 
activity, industry, and parsimony of the Jews have always proved highly 
favourable to the rearing of families and the accumulation of riches. 
Both their population and their wealth had augmented in Spain to a 
very extraordinary degree : but, during the last period of its Gothic 
kings, the vexations inflicted on them had also increased in a still higher 
proportion. In the reign of Sisebut, ninety thousand Jews were sub- 
jected to a compulsory baptism : and the convocation of Spanish clergy 
had established it as a law, that such as had once received that initial 
rite should be compelled to the future observance of all those external 
forms and ceremonies, which were then numbered among the essentials 
of Christianity, To enforce statutes of such enormous tyranny, modes 
of proceeding equally enormous were invented, and seven hundred years 
before the establishment of the tribunal of the dire inquisition, an in- 
quisitorial persecution had been adopted and systematically exercised 
against the unhappy Jews.f 

Such was in Spain the preparation of materials, which the smallest 
spark was ready to throw into combustion. In the lapse of two centu- 
ries and a half, the Gothic conquerors of that country no longer re- 
sembled the fierce soldiers of Alaric ; who had invaded Italy, sacked 
Home, and inarched victorious from the shores of Scandinavia to those 
* Basnage Histoire des Juifs, torn. vii. c. 9. t Ibid, torn. viii. c. 13. 



INTRODUCTION. 



of the Atlantic. By a consequence, inevitable among barbarians car- 
ried along in too buoyant a tide of prosperity, they had, without di- 
vesting themselves of their primitive rudeness, adopted all the false 
refinements of the vanquished ; and passed at one fatal bound, from the 
innocence of poverty and ignorance, to the pollutions of wealth and 
luxury. The youth neglected the exercise of arms, the walls of their 
cities were allowed to moulder in decay : ostentatious parade, effeminate 
luxury, and amorous intrigue, were matters of pursuit and celebrity 
among the dukes and counts of Spain : and in these disgraceful avoca- 
tions, King Roderic himself outvied all his nobility ; * his vices dis- 
graced and contaminated the throne which he filled ; and his subsequent 
conduct affords an additional evidence, that the debaucheries of tyrants, 
in almost every instance, prove to be the real or the ostensible cause of 
their ruin.f 

* Mariana de Rebus Hispanise, 1. vi. c. 8. et seq. 
f FJorian, Precis Historique sur les Maures, p. 22. 



THE HISTORY 

OF THE 

MAHOMETAN EMPIRE IN SPAIN, be. 

PART I. 



THE HISTORY 

OF THE 

MAHOMETAN EMPIRE IN SPAIN, Sfc. 



CHAPTER I. 

SOME ACCOUNT OF THE AUTHORS, FROM WHOSE WORKS THE HISTORY 
OF THE MAHOMETAN EMPIRE IN SPAIN HAS BEEN SELECTED ; TOGE- 
THER WITH OBSERVATIONS ON THE HISTORY OF THE ARABS PREVI- 
OUSLY TO THE CONQUEST. 

The following notices relative to the history of the Arabs in Spain, 
as well as the subsequent account of Cordova,* when the seat of 
government of that people in the West, are selected and translated 
from a copious work written in Arabic, by Ahmad, son of Mahomet, 
son of Ahmad, sirnamed Almukry, a native of Tilimsan in Africa, and 
entitled Nafhu-t-TIb fi Tarikhi Ghusni-1 Andalusa-r-ratTb. In the 
preface to his work, the author intimates, that, after quitting his native 
place, where he had grown up and had been educated, he settled first 
at Fez ; whence, towards the end of the month Ramazan, in the year 
1027 1 of the Hijra, he removed to Cairo. After a short stay at the 
latter place, he undertook the pilgrimage to the two sacred cities 
(Mecca and Medina), where he arrived at the commencement of the 

* See Chapter V. Sect. I. infra, for the account of the celebrated city of Cordova, 
f September or October, A.C. 1618. 



32 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



month Dhii-l-Kaada in the following year, and he returned to Cairo 
in the month Muharram of 1029. In the month Rabla of this year, 
he set out to visit the holy house (Jerusalem), whence he returned to 
Cairo ; and, after returning to the same place from the completion 
of his fifth pilgrimage in the month Safar of the year 1037, he re- 
visited Jerusalem in Rajab of the same year ; from which city he 
proceeded by the tomb of Abraham to Damascus, where he arrived 
about the end of Shaaban in 1037. In his conversations with the 
learned men of this city, he engaged their attention so much by his 
accounts of Spain, and most especially by what he related of the per- 
formances of Lisanuddin Abu Abdillah Assalmany, usually called 
Ibnu-l-Khatlb, who had been vizir to Muhammad, son of Abu-l-Hajjaj, 
sultan of Granada, that he was at length prevailed upon by Ahmad 
Effendi Ashshahiny, to write the history of that eminent man ; who 
seems to have been truly worthy of the historian's attention, not only 
on account of his official compositions as minister, but also for his 
history of Granada, as well as for various other literary productions.* 
This work the author mentions that he completed in the year of the 
Hijra 1039. f 

After a brief narration of the reasons above alluded to, which in- 
duced him to undertake the task on his return to Cairo, and of the 
difficulties which, in a strange land, he had to surmount in the execu- 
tion of it, owing chiefly to the want of such books as he had been 
obliged to leave at Fez, the author premises, that the work will consist of 
two parts : of these, the first part will comprise a short history of Spain, 
arranged in eight chapters : chapter the first, will relate to the geogra- 
phy, topography, and natural history of the country ; chapter the 
second, to the conquest of Spain by the Arabs ; chapter the third, to 
their victories and dominion in it, from the accession of Abdurrahman 
Addakhil,:j: till the land became divided into various petty sovereignties ; 

* Ibnu-l-Khatib was born in the year 713 of the Hijra, and assassinated in prison in 776. 
Some account of his works may be found infra, Part II. Chap. II. Sect. I. 
t A. C. 1630. 

% The first Abdurrahman is distinguished by this appellation, which means " the enterer." 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



33 



chapter the fourth contains a description of Cordova, and of the prin- 
cipal buildings in it, when that city was the metropolis of the Maho- 
metan empire in Spain ; in chapter the fifth, is given a short biography 
and some mention of the works of certain natives of Spain, who left 
that country and settled in the East ; chapter the sixth records certain 
eminent men who passed from the East into Spain ; chapter the seventh 
relates to the acuteness of genius and the excellent disposition to sci- 
ence with which it pleased God to bless the people of Spain ; and in 
chapter the eighth, is described the subjection of the country to the 
infidel * enemy, by the cunning and perfidy which he adopted to ac- 
complish it. The second part of the work is in a similar manner subdi- 
vided into eight books ; in which the ancestors of Lisanuddin Ibnu-1- 
Khatib are first treated of ; next, his ascent in life and in power, his 
administration as vizir, his good fortune and subsequent adversity are 
recounted ; in the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth books, his doctrinal, 
political, poetical, and scientific productions are noticed ; in the 
seventh, his disciples are mentioned ; and, the eighth relates to his 
children and to the instructions he gave them. 

In the composition of the first part, the author makes use of the most 
approved Arabic historians on the affairs of Spain ; and gives their 
various accounts of such events, as are differently recorded by them. 
From this part, but especially from the first, second, third, fourth, and 
eighth books, the following history has chiefly been selected : and, of 
the historians and biographers, whom the author has consulted or 
noticed, the most conspicuous will now be mentioned, with such parti- 
culars respecting their lives and writings, as the translator has yet been 
able to collect. 

Ahmadu-bn Muhammadi-bn Miisa Abu Bakr Arrazy derived his 
origin from the city of Rai in Persia, as the patronymic ar-Razy com- 
mon to many besides him denotes ;f but, notwithstanding this, he may 
have been a native, as well as an inhabitant, of Spain. Of his life, 

* The Christian king, or Christians generally of Spain. 

•f So that the historian Razy, here mentioned, must not be confounded with the celebrated 
physician, Abu Bakr Muhammadu-bn Zakarla ar-Razy, who died in the year 311 of the Hijra ; or 

F 



34 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



scarcely any account has been obtained : he appears, however, to have 
flourished towards the end of the fourth century of the Hijra and the be- 
ginning of the fifth. The works ascribed to him are, a very copious 
history of Spain, a description of Cordova, similar to that of Baghdad 
composed by Ahmadu-bn Abl Tahir, and the genealogy of the illustrious 
men of Spain in five large volumes, besides other historical productions. 

Isa-bn Ahmadi-bn Muhammad Arrazy, said to be a grandson of the 
historian above-mentioned, wrote the annals of the vizirs of sovereigns 
in Spain. Neither his work, however, has occurred to the translator, 
nor any further information respecting him. 

Abu-l-Walid Abdullahi-bn Muhammadi-bn Yusufi-bn Nasr Alazdy, 
commonly called Ibnu-l-Farazy, was a native of Cordova, highly 
conversant in the sacred traditions, as well as in ethics and history. 
Besides works on various other subjects, he wrote the lives of the 
learned of Spain, also the history of the poets of that country, and a 
critical work on history. This author was born in the month Dhu-1- 
Kaada of the year 351 of the Hijra ; obtained the dignity of Cadhy of 
the city of Valencia ; and was killed at Cordova by the Barbars, at 
the capture of that city on the sixth of the month Shavwal, in the 
year 403.* 

Abu L T mar Yiisufu-bn Abdillahi-bn Muhammadi-bn Abdilbarr, usu- 
ally called Ibn Abdilbarr, was born at Cordova, on Friday the twenty- 
fifth of the latter Rabia, in the year 368 of the Hijra, and became 
Cadhy of Lisbon and Santarem, under Muzaffaru-bnu-l-Aftas, king of 
Badajos ; afterwards, however, he quitted the west of Spain, resided at 
Denia, Xativa, and Valencia, and died atXativa, on Friday the last day 

with the Imam Fakhru-d-DIn ar-Razy a renowned divine, philosopher, and philologist, whose 
writings and disciples were very numerous, and who died at Harat, in the year 606 of the Hijra ; 
or with Abu-l-Fath Sulaiman ar-Razy, a divine and author of high repute, who resided at Tyre, 
but who was drowned in the Red Sea on his return from the sacred pilgrimage to Mecca, in the 
year 447 of the Hijra. Casiri, moreover, has shewn, that the work in Spanish attributed to Arrazy, 
must be a forgery : and though this author is frequently referred to by following historians, as 
undoubted authority, yet his real works seem not to be known in Europe, except by the passages 
which others have extracted from them. 
* On or about the 20th April, A. C. 1013. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



35 



of the latter Rabia, in 463 of the Hijra.* He was the Hafiz (recorder 
or relater of the sacred traditions) of the West, a man of great learning 
and character, and the author of the Kitabu-l-Kasd wa-l-Amam fi 
Maarifati Akhbari-l-Arab wa-l-Ajam (book of research and investiga- 
tion in the science of the history of the Arabs and Barbarians), as well 
as of various other productions on history, divinity, ethics, &c. 

Abu Muhammad Aliyu-bn Ahmadi-bn Saaidi-bn Hazm, commonly 
called Ibn Hazm, was of Persian origin, but born at Cordova, on 
Wednesday the last day of Ramazan, in the year 384 of the Hijra. His 
learning was most extensive ; and his writings on various subjects, 
both in prose and in verse, were so multitudinous, that, after his 
decease, his son is said to have collected four hundred volumes of them, 
comprising about eighty thousand leaves. Amongst these, he wrote a 
treatise on the difference of religions ; a disclosure of the alterations 
made by the Jews and the Christians in the Law and the Gospel, with 
an explanation of the difference between the doctrines held by them, 
and those which the originals import, no one before him having treated 
this question in a similar way ; — a work on approximation to the per- 
fection of logic, with an introduction to it in the language of the vulgar 
and the relations of divines, in the prosecution of which, the author 
pursues a track none had ventured before, as well as in clearing him- 
self from suspicions and in refuting his calumniators ; and a small, 
though truly valuable work, entitled, Nukatu-l-Arus, being a history 
of the Khalifs ; besides numerous other treatises on history, theology, 
and the like. Of this author, Ibn Bashkuval says, that he was the 
most versed of all the people of Spain in the sciences of Islamism, at 
the same time possessing a vast acquaintance with language, and an 
abundant portion of eloquence, poetic genius, and historical informa- 
tion. His attacks, however, on the learned who had preceded him, of 
whom he suffered none to escape, drew on him the enmity of his con- 
temporaries to such a degree, that though he inherited by birth a high 
station in his native country, having succeeded his father in the rank 
and office of vizir, they persuaded both prince and people to reject his 

* On or about the 3d February, 1071, A. C. 



36 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



society. Thus excommunicated and forced to quit his native place, the 
metropolis, this extraordinary genius and voluminous author retired to 
the forest of Labia, or Laila,* and is said to have died there on the 
twenty-seventh of Shaaban, in the year 456 of the Hijra.f It is, how- 
ever, otherwise recorded, that he died at Mait Sham, a place belonging 
to him in the district of Laila. 

Abii-1 Walld Ahmadu-bn Abdilluhi-bn Ahmadi-bn Ghalibi-bn 
Zaidun Almakhzumy, was of a family very eminent among the lawyers 
of Cordova : after he had established his own character in polite litera- 
ture and poetry, as well as obtained high rank and reuown, he quitted 
his native city in the year 441 of the Hijra, and settled at Seville with 
Almuatazadu-bn Abbad, to whom he became a confidential minister, 
as well as intimate friend. This author, who is truly conspicuous as 
a poet, historian, and statesman, wrote among other things, a history of 
the Khalifs of the house of Umrnaiya in Spain, similar to that of Alma- 
saudy relative to the Khalifs of Asia ; he died at Seville in the begin- 
ning of the month Rajab of the year 4634 

Abu Marwan Haiyanu-bn Khalafi-bn Husaini-bn Haiyan, com- 
monly called Ibn Haiyan, an inhabitant of Cordova, wrote the Kitabu-1 
Muktabis, a history of Spain in ten volumes ; also the Kitabu-1 Matin, 
another copious work on history, in about sixty volumes. This author, 
who, in the work last noticed, records the occurrences of his own 
time, stands truly eminent for his knowledge of history, and especially 
of that of Spain ; so that among writers on this subject, he holds the 
foremost station, his works being not only confided in for their strict 
veracity, but accounted the most elegant in point of language and 
arrangement. He was born in the year 377 of the hijra, and died at a 
very advanced age, on Sunday the 27th of the prior Rabla in 469. § 

Abu Abdillah Muhammadu-bn Abl Nasr Fatuh Alazdy, usually call- 
ed Alhumaidy, was born at Minorca || prior to the year 420 of the Hijra ; 

* Uipula, or the modern Niebla. f A. C. 1064. % November, 1070, of Christ. 

§ On or about the 30th Oct. 1076'. 

|| It is, however, doubtful, whether Minorca or Majorca is intended by the biographer, Ibn 
Khallakan, from whom this account is extracted. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



37 



but, his ancestors had been fixed at Cordova, in the suburbs of Arru- 
safat ; and he died at Baghdad, where he had settled after visiting- 
many cities of Asia, on the 17th of Dhii-1 Hijja, in the year 488* of the 
Hijra, or in Safar of 491, as otherwise related. Oflbn Hazm above 
mentioned, he was a zealous follower ; giving to the productions of that 
author peculiar attention, and frequenting his society ; but he also 
studied under Ibn Abdi-l-Barr, of whom some account has been given : 
and he became truly eminent for his acquaintance with history, religion, 
and language, as well as for his generosity, politeness, and modera- 
tion, Amongst various other works on different subjects, he wrote the 
Jadhwatu-l-Muktabis, or a history of the learned men of Spain, in one 
volume. 

Abu Nasr Alfathu-bn Muhammadi-bn Ubaidillahi-bn Khakan Al- 
kaisy, commonly called Alfath, was the author of many works ; and, 
amongst others, of the Kalayidu-1 Ikiyan (chains of gold), a highly ce- 
lebrated performance on the characters and poetical productions of 
certain eminent princes, ministers, and learned men of Spain in the 
fifth century of the Hijra: he was the author also of the Mutmahu-1- 
Anfus wa Masrahu-t-Taannus fT Milhi Ahli-l-Andulas (the theatre for 
the mind and the field for acquaintance, in the politeness of the Anda- 
lusians), a rare work of great repute, in which he gives the biography 
of the eminent people mentioned in his former work, as well as of others 
who lived before their time. Alfath was from Seville ; but, the time 
of his birth the translator has not been able to ascertain : and, at the 
instigation of the Emini-1-Murninim Abu-1 Hasan Aly, to whose bro- 
ther, the Emir Abu. Ishac Ibrahim, son of Yusufu-bn Tasifin, he had 
dedicated the Kalayidu-l-Ikiyan, he was murdered at Marocco, perhaps 
for the preference shewn to Abu Ishac, about the beginning of the year 
529 ; t OY > as otherwise recorded, in 535. 

Abu-1 Hasan Aliyu-bn Bassam, usually named Ibn Bassam, from 
Santarem, was the author of a celebrated biographical work, called 
AddhakTrat ; and he died in the year 542 % of the Hijra. 

* On or about the 1.9th of December, A. C. 1095. J Beginning on the 22'dof June, A.C. 1147, 
f Which was on the 22d of October, 1 134 of Christ. 



38 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



Abu-] Kasim Khalafu-bn Abdilmaliki-bn Masaudi-bn Musa-bn 
Bashkuval, commonly called Ibn Bashkuval, or Pasqual, a native of 
Cordova, was the author of several valuable works ; amongst others, of 
the Kitabu-s-Silat, intended as a continuation of Ibnu-l-Farazy's bio- 
graphy of the learned of Spain, before-mentioned, and comprising 
the records of a great number of eminent men. He also wrote a history 
of the sovereigns of Spain from the conquest till his own time, with 
some accounts of Cordova and other places. His birth happened on 
Monday the third of Dhu-l-Hijja in the year 494 of the Hijra ; and he 
died on Wednesday the eighth of Ramazan in 578.* 

Alkatib Alhafiz Abu Abdillah Muhainmadu-bnu-l-Abbar, a native 
of Valencia, commonly called Ibnu-l-Abbar, was a celebrated poet and 
historian. The work entitled Maadinu-l-Lujain (mines of silver) as 
well as a continuation of Ibn Bashkuval's Silat are due to this author, 
who was born about the end of the month Rabia of the year 598, and 
who died at Tunis on Tuesday the twentieth of Muharram in the year 
658-t 

Waliyuddin Abdurrahmani-bn Muhammad, commonly called Ibn 
Khaldun, wrote the work entitled Divanu-l-Abr wa Kitabu-l-Mubtada 
wa-l-Khabar f I Tarikhi-l-Arab wa-l-Ajam wa-l-Barbar (record of ob- 
servation, and book of intelligence and information on the history of the 
Arabs, Persians, and Barbars) in eight very large volumes. His an- 
cestors were from Seville, and had settled at Tunis, where he was born 
in the year 732 of the Hijra. This eminent man passed part of his life 
in Spain, a contemporary and friend of Ibnu-l-Khatib ; but having re- 
moved to Egypt, he happened to attend the Sultan of that country, 
Almaliku-n-Nasir Faraj in the expedition to Syria against Taimur ; 
when, being separated from the Egyptians in their flight, he was fixed 
on by the chief men of Damascus to conduct their conference with 
Taimur respecting the surrender of their city ; and that conqueror be- 
came so captivated by his learning and eloquence, as to honour him 
greatly, and to send him home to Cairo, where he died in 8074 

* On or about the 5th of January, 1 183 of Christ. f On or about the 6th of January, 1 260. 
% Which began July 10th, A. C. 1404. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



39 



Besides these, the following works and authors are noticed : namely, 
the Kitabu-l-Muzaffary, a copious history in near fifty volumes by Mu- 
z a fl a r u - b n u - 1 - A t a s , king ofBadajos and the countries dependent on it; 
the author of which work flourished about the middle of the fifth cen- 
tury of the Hijra. The Hadikatu-l-Irtiyah fi wasfi Hakikati Alwah 
(the bower of entertainment in the description of the truth of records) 
by the Vizir Abu-l-Faraj. The history of the famous men who tra- 
velled from Spain and who continued in it, by Ibn Faraj. The history 
of the house of Abbad by Abu Bakri-bni-l-Lubana of Denia ; also, the 
Sakltu-d-Durar wa Lakltu-z-Zahar (the fallen pearls and the picked- 
up flowers) by the same author. A history of the dynasty of Matuna 
by Ibn Sahibi-s-Salat. A history of the last mentioned dynasty by Abu 
Sairafy, the Granadian. A history of the second civil war in Andalusia, 
which arose during the year 539, continued till the year 547, by Abu- 
1-Hasan of Medina Celi. A history of Spain from the accession of the 
first Khalif to the sovereignty of the house of Abdul mumin ; and, con- 
cluding in the year 565. An account of learned men, whether Arabs 
or Barbarians, by Abu-l-Kasim Said, the Toledan : and, a general his- 
tory by the same. An abridgment of the Tarlkh Tabary by Gharibu- 
bn-Said of Cordova ; to which the author subjoined a history of Africa 
and Spain. The Kitabu-l-Ibar (book of remarkable events) by Ahmadu- 
bn Saidi-bn Alfaiyaz. The Maathiru-l-Aamiriya (achievements of Ibn 
Aby Aainir) by Husainu-bn Aasim. The biography of the Cadhys of 
Cordova and of the rest of Spain ; also, the lives of the Faklhs by Mu- 
hammadu-bnu-l-Harith. The work of Kasimu-bn Asbaa,* on genea- 
logy, a valuable and comprehensive treatise, though not diffuse : also, 
a copious work of great repute, on the excellencies of the family of 
Ummaiya, by the same. The work of Muhammadu-bn Aasim on the 
Secretaries of Spain. The work of Ibn Said on a similar subject to 
that last mentioned. The history of Physicians in Spain by Sulaimanu- 
bn Juljul. The Simtu-l-Juman wa Sakitu-l-Marjan, being an account 
of eminent men continued till the seventh century of the Hijra, by Abu 
Amru Othmanu-bn Aliyi-bn Othmani-bni-l-Imam, a native of Seville, 

* Or Asbagh. 



40 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



usually called Ibnu-l-Imam. The work on the poets of the west, en- 
titled Almutrib min Ashaar Ahli-l-Maghrab, by the Hafiz Abu-1- 
Khattab Ibn Dihya. The work of Abu Bakri-bnu-l-Husain Muham- 
mad u-z-Zubaidy on the biography of grammarians and lexicographers 
in Asia and Spain. The history in metrical language of Yahya-bnu- 
1-Ghazzal ; whose son, Abu Talibu-l-Mutanabby composed, in like 
manner, the history, from which Ibn Bassam has extracted in the 
Addhakirat ; which latter is a kind of continuation of the Hadayik of 
Ibn Faraj. A continuation of Ibn Imam's work, before mentioned, by 
Ibn IdrTs the Murcian, entitled Zadu-l-Musafir (provision for the tra- 
veller). The work of Abu Muhammad Abdullahi-bn Ibrahim Alhijazy, 
entitled Almashab, on the excellencies of the west ; composed after the 
Addhakirat and the Kalayid, and containing the history of Spain from 
the time when that country was first peopled, to the author's own time : 
in this work, besides biography, the subject of the two books last named, 
the author gives a geographical description of Spain, together with its 
productions and its history, no work of equal merit having been before 
published in Spain : Abdulmaliki-bn Said, therefore, preferred and 
continued it ; but, his two sons, Ahmad and Muhammad ; afterwards 
Musa son of Muhammad, and lastly Aly son of M usa, fos med continu- 
ations of it ; so that, between these six authors it was one hundred and 
fifteen years in completing, being brought down to the year 645. And, 
the works of Ibnu-1 Khatib, whose productions it was the principal de- 
sign of the author here translated to commemorate, and of whom 
some notice has already been taken. 

Among the nations of the earth, as far as their history is now known 
in Europe, two people are peculiarly distinguished for the propagation 
of science and of arts. That these benefits to society, however, origi- 
nated with the one or the other of them cannot be asserted ; for, science 
and the arts seem generally to have descended from a more eastern 
source. The colonists that passed over from Asia to Greece were not 
devoid of such acquirements ; and they sought to accommodate what 
they brought with them, as well as what was afterwards introduced, to 
the climate and country in which they had settled. The barbarous 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



41 



nations, that inhabited still farther to the west, by degrees obtained an 
acquaintance with the improvements of the Greeks ; and ignorantly 
admired the latter as the original inventors. Hence, the enthusiasm 
with which every thing Grecian has been reverenced by the rest of 
Europe, and the exclusive dominion which the doctrine of Greece has 
universally obtained over the learned in this quarter of the globe. To 
Asiatics, however, but few of the western innovations and discoveries 
ever became known and acceptable ; till the Arabs, an active and in- 
genious race of men, having acquired the most extensive empire which 
history now informs us of, not only seized with avidity the useful arts 
of the Greeks, and communicated them to the rude nations of Europe, 
as well as to much of Asia and Africa, but sought out, adopted, and 
disseminated in like manner, the no less beneficial inventions of the 
primeval philosophers of the east.* 

* That the Hindus excelled in science at the most remote past ages, of which any memorial 
remains relative to them, is evident from the earliest records of both eastern and western history : 
and, as the religion which those people strictly observe in this particular, forbids their departure 
under any pretence from their own country, there appears not a probability that they could ever, 
since that religion has prevailed among them, seek or obtain instruction from foreigners. On the 
other hand, it is generally understood that Pythagoras, one of the most ancient of the Grecian phi- 
losophers, travelled to India in search of knowledge ; and he may have been followed, if not pre- 
ceded, by other western sages in the like creditable pursuit. Even at the birth of the founder of 
Christianity, the wise men of the east, not of the west, are described as led by heaven in a mira- 
culous manner to the infant : and, though we are not informed of what eastern nation these sages 
were, yet the passage of the evangelist may be fairly understood as denoting a high degree of re- 
spect for oriental science at the very time when Grecian and Roman literature was most improved 
and cultivated. If, however, the mere classical scholar can be so far blinded by prejudice, as to 
startle at the praise here given to the Arabs, alike with the Greeks, for the dissemination and pro- 
motion of science, coinciding in opinion rather with a venturous writer in a modern periodical 
work,f who hesitates not, among other indiscriminate censure, to assert of the Arabs that " the 
<c literature, the manners, the arts of that people, were at no period of their history other than those 
' of semi-barbarians, and the praises which have been bestowed on them are the exaggerations of 
6C those, who having learned their language and studied their literature, conceived a fond partiality 
<c for that which it concerned them to represent as a great distinction and advantage to know. At 
£C no period did their literature in any of its branches surpass, in few of them did it equal, that of 

j* See page 244 of No. 45 of the Edinburgh Review. 

G 



42 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



Of the ancient people of Arabia, the names Tasni.. Judais Aad. 
Thamnd and Jarhnm are still recorded in history; but those people 
becoming extinct, the descendants of Kahtan (called in the English 
translation of the bible Joktan) gained possession of Yam an, as the 
posterity of Adnan did of Hijaz.* Adrian claims his descent from 
Ishmael, who is said to have married into the tribe of Jarhum ; and 

" the Europeans during the middle or semi-barbarous ages," yet it is hazardous to decide in 
any disputed case from partial evidence merely : and, if such limited scholars would deign to 
acquire as full an acquaintance with the writings of the Arabs as with those of the Greeks, Romans, 
and modern Europeans, perhaps they too would become infected with " a fond partiality " for 
what they might then think it « a great advantage " if not « a distinction " to know. To ascribe, 
however, the fond partiality, which those who have learned the language and studied the literature 
of the Arabs, conceive for them, to the motives insinuated by the invidious reviewer, will not do 
credit to the liberality or discernment of any one : if Arabic literature has such charms for those 
who take the trouble of gaining an acquaintance with it, as is certainly the case, what better proof 
can be adduced of its intrinsic excellence ? and vain or selfish motives might with more reason 
have been supposed to exist in the Grecian scholars, who possess and seek to retain all the literary 
patronage and honours of the European states, than in the insulated Arabic student, who has no such 
benefits to aspire to. It is, moreover, difficult to discover how the limits of barbarism, semi-bar- 
barism, and refinement without alloy, if the latter can be asserted by the most partial to have really 
existed in any people, are to be correctly ascertained. With the Greek, all mankind are divided 
into Greeks and Barbarians ; and the Arabs have like terms of general distinction ; but neither 
the mere Greek, the mere Arabic, nor the mere Hindu scholar, is qualified to judge impartially 
of the manners and literary acquirements of others, when placed in competition with those, in 
favour of which he is by education wholly prejudiced. If, however, we pay regard to the reception 
which the language, writings, and laws of any particular people have obtained from others, as a 
test of their excellence, those of the Arabs will be found to have the advantage: the Arabic lan- 
guage and characters of writing are more used on the face of the earth than those of any other 
people : works in the various classes of polite literature have been more numerously composed in 
the Arabic than perhaps in any other dialect, ancient or modern : and, no adequate idea of the li- 
terature and refinement of the Arabs can be derived from the trifling portion of their writings, which, 
for the most part ill-selected and ill-translated, have been very faintly sketched out in European 
dialects. By general expressions, uttered with confidence and assumption of authority, like the 
quotation above made, the ignorant may be deluded ; but to the well-informed, who examine 
particulars and require proofs of every assertion, specious words, void of the solidity of argument, 
serve only to betray a want of intelligence in the user of them, or a design to mislead. 

* The ancient grand division of the peninsula of Arabia is into Yaman and Hijaz, corresponding 
to the Arabia Felix and the Arabia Petrasa of the Romans : but that extensive region is frequently 
divided into other provinces, especially by later writers. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



43 



this race is accounted Mustaarab (pretenders to the name Arab) only, 
whilst the sons of Kahtan glory in being alone the genuine Arabians. 

The modern Arabs, whether those who refer their lineage to Kahtan, 
or those who trace their genealogy to Adnan, are alike divided into 
various tribes, too numerous to be here recounted : and the history of 
this people before the time of their lawgiver, Muhammad, is but little 
known. Yaarab son of Kahtan is said by some to have been the first 
sovereign in Yaman, and to have been the first speaker of the Arabic 
language : but according to others, it was Saba son of Yashhab, son 
of Yaarab, with whom regal power commenced in that country ; and 
Himyar, the most valorous of men, who succeeded his father Saba, was 
the first of the kings of Yaman who placed a tiara on his head. 

After the reigns of many sovereigns in Yaman, who are distinguished 
by the general appellation of Dhu'ul-Haiat, the names even of but very 
few of which are now recorded, that country was invaded and subdued 
by the Abyssinians, who under three successive princes ruled it during 
seventy-two years. Saifu-bn Dhi Yazn, or as some say, Maadi Karib, 
then took the government of the land ; but, after him, Anushervan king 
of Persia, obtained the dominion of Yaman ; and it continued under 
the sway of the Persians, till after the promulgation of Xslamism. 

From the people of Yaman a dynasty of seventy- three princes reigned 
during the space of six hundred and eighteen years in Syria. This 
family is called by the Arabs Jafanat, but the Greeks named it after 
Ghassan, the place where it was first settled. And another dynasty of 
Yam an i an s reigned with considerable splendour at Hira in Mesopo- 
tamia, till Annumanu-bnu-l-Mundhir, the last of the princes of Hira, 
was slain by the Persians. 

The splendour of the family of Adnan, whose princes are contra- 
distinguished from those of Kahtan by the term Dhu'ul-Ghayat, shone 
not forth till the time of Muhammad. Through him, however, who 
was of that race, it shared the glory of prophecy as well as owned the 
dignity of Khalif: and the dominion of this family, vast as it became, 
continued till the end of the sixth century of the Hijra. 

The division of the Arabs into numerous tribes, rendered them, like 



44 THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 

the Greeks who were separated into many small states, highly ambitious; 
of contributing to the renown of their respective peculiar people, as well 
as of obtaining credit for themselves individually. Possessing one 
common dialect, the various families inhabiting the Arabian peninsula, 
from similar motives with the independent republics of Greece, rivalled 
each other in the cultivation and use of language. This was a path of 
excellence open to all : and they who sought the esteem of others, and 
influence over their fellows, hastened to tread it. Sensible of this, the 
Arabian legislator delivered his precepts in such elegance of diction, 
that the Koran is regarded by his followers as of itself, on this account, 
affording the most satisfactory evidence of his divine mission : and 
when the religious charm, which he knew how to spread over the 
severed members of his people, had united them in one body, they not 
only subdued the neighbouring and many distant nations of the earth, 
but greedily seized the arts and sciences of others, and succeeded in 
making great improvements as well as important discoveries. The 
Arabian sovereigns were generally enlightened men, and literature be- 
came the best introduction to their courts. The doctrines of India and 
of Greece were shortly transposed into the Arabic language ; and 
through that language the first knowledge of them was conveyed to the 
modern nations of Europe ; who were till then immersed, and without 
the light thus imparted by the Arabs, would probably have continued 
immersed, in the gross darkness of unqualified barbarism. 

The first Muhammadan sovereigns, indeed, were too fully occupied 
in the establishment and extension of their religion, to afford much 
effectual aid to the advancement of literature ; yet in the early years of 
Islamism, the vagrant offspring of the Arabian deserts had magnanimity 
and refinement enough to found some of the greatest cities in the world. 
During the reign of Omar were built Basra and Cufa in Irak, and Fustat 
in Egypt, which continued the capital of that country from the year 
20 of the Hijra, till the increase of its buildings and the change of its 
name to Cilhira in 360. Under the Khalifs who shortly succeeded Omar, 
were raised Caiman in Africa, Wasit and Baghdad in Irak, besides 
splendid mosques in every part of the Musulman dominions. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



45 



All, the son-in-law and the fourth successor of Muhammad, held litera- 
ture in high esteem, and was himself an author, if the apothegms usually 
ascribed to him were actually of his composing. " The learning of a 
man," says he, £C is more valuable than his gold:" " the ornament of 
man is erudition :" fe eminence in science is the highest of honours:" 
" to the dominion of science there is no end :" " to gain knowledge is 
the highest acquisition of the faithful :" " he dies not who gives life to 
science." But though he is said to have caused the first grammar of 
the Arabic language to be formed,* yet the short reign of this great 
man was too much disturbed by civil war to allow him the opportunity 
of promoting literature effectually, however much he might have been 
disposed to befriend it. 

Under the house of Ummaiya, which fixed the imperial seat at Da- 
mascus, the polite arts, especially architecture and the use of language, 
whether in verse or in prose, met with great encouragement. At the 
commencement of the year 106 of the Hijra, Abdulmalik, son of 
Marwan, began the building of the dome over the sacred rock, and of 
the great mosque at Jerusalem, that the people might be led to substi- 
tute the pilgrimage to Jerusalem for that to Mecca, and that they 
might be diverted from visiting the latter place, lest they should be 
induced to espouse the cause of his rival, Ibn Zubair, who resided 
there, and who disputed with him at that time the sovereignty of the 
Moslems. f 

* Abu-l-Aswad Zalim Addull wrote the first Arabic grammar ; and it is said, that the task was 
undertaken at the instance of All, from whom Zalim received much instruction on the subject ; 
such as, among other particulars, the division of language into noun, verb, and particle. It is, 
however, otherwise said, that Zalim was tutor to the children of Ziyad, governor of Irak ; and, 
that perceiving the adulteration of the language of the Arabians from the admixture of foreigners 
with them, he obtained permission of Ziyad to execute this task. 

f Of the magnificence of these structures some idea may be collected from the following de- 
scription, with which an Arabic historian has supplied us. u Abdulmalik is said to have expended 
" the revenues of Egypt for seven years on the building of the dome and the mosque, and to have 
" committed the execution of the undertaking to Abu-l-Mikdam Raja AlkandT, a very learned 
" man ; with whom, however, was associated in the direction of the business, Yazld, son of 
»* Sallam, a native of Jerusalem, and two sons of the latter. On the completion of these edifices, 



46 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



Alwalid, son of Abdulmalik, equalled, if he did not surpass hi s 
father in building. He raised the great mosque of Damascus, the floor 
of which was white marble, the walls of which were covered with 

" Raja and Yazld informed the Khalif, that of the money appropriated to this purpose, one hun- 
te dred thousand dinars were still remaining unexpended ; and that they waited for his commands 
" how to dispose of it : they were, in consequence, ordered to melt down the gold and to use it in 
" adorning the dome. When this order was executed, the beholder, dazzled with the splendor of 
" the precious metal, as well as astonished at the magnificence of the structure, was unable to 
" survey it ; and the erection of the dome and mosque was finished in the year 73 of the Hijra, 
" The quantity of wood expended on the roof, exclusive of the wooden pillars, was six thousand 
" trees. The number of doors amounted to fifty. That of chains hanging from columns to five 
" hundred and eighty-five ; of which there were two hundred and thirty in the mosque, and the 
" rest were in the dome : the length of the chains was four thousand cubits, and their weight was 
" forty-three thousand Syrian pounds. The number of lamps used in the edifice was five thou- 
" sand ; but to these were added two thousand wax tapers on Friday nights, as well as on the 
" nights of half Rajah, of Shaaban, and of Ramazan, and on the nights of the two festivals (A'ld). 
" The domes, exclusive of that over the rock, amounted to fifteen. On the roof of the mosque 
" were used seven thousand seven hundred pieces of tin,* each piece weighing seventy Syrian 
cc pounds, besides what was expended on the dome over the rock. The number of ministers versed 
" in reading the sacred book was three hundred ; of which, when any one died, the son, or son's 
" son, or some relative succeeded to his place ; and this privilege was continued as long as any of 
" the family remained. Of large cisterns, or reservoirs of water, the number was twenty-four. 
" The minarets (towers from which the people were called to prayer) were four ; of which, three 
<£ were on the west of the mosque, in one line, and one was over the gate of the Asbat (tribes of 
" Israel). Of Jews, ten, each with his successor, making in all twenty, were exempt from the 
" tax, and employed as servants to sweep the place and to cleanse the vessels used about the 
" temple in lustrations : and of Christians, ten, whose offices passed in like manner from father 
" to son, were employed in the charge of the court of the mosque, and in keeping it clean, as well 
" as in cleansing the aqueducts to the fountains and the like. : but there was, moreover, a multitude 
" of Jews employed as servants in the care of the glass, the lamps, the cups, the chandeliers, &c. 
" as well as in the trimming of the lamps, all of whom were exempt from tribute, and their 
" appointments descended to their posterity. The length of the mosque is recorded to have been 
" seven hundred and fifty-five cubits, and the breadth four huudred and sixty-five cubits. In the 
" days of Abdulmalik, its doors were covered with plates of gold and silver ; but these precious 
" ornaments, as well as the gold used in ornamenting the dome, as above-mentioned, were removed 
" not long afterwards, and expended in re-building some parts of the edifice, which earthquakes 
" had subverted." 

* The word here translated tin, is sometimes rendered lead. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



47 



mosaic, and the roof of which, erected without wood, was covered with 
gold. This mosque had three minarets ; of which, the one at the ex- 
tremity of it was adorned from top to bottom with gold and mosaic. 
Three years revenues of his empire Alwalld is said to have expended on 
this edifice. He built, moreover, the great mosque at Medina, the 
great mosque at Misr (the ancient capital of Egypt), and he dug the 
wells of Medina and Mecca. 

Abdulmalik died in the year 86 of the Hijra, and Alwalid in 96. 
Almansur, of the house of Alabbas, repaired the mosque of Jerusalem, 
which had suffered from earthquake ; but it was again injured by the 
like cause during the reign of his son Almuhdi. The latter coining to 
visit it, in company with his secretary Abu Abdillah Alashkarl, passed 
through Damascus ; and, on surveying the temple there, he exclaimed, 
" O Abu Abdillah, the sons of Ummaiya excelled us " the secretary 
replied, " Commander of the Faithful, in what V Almuhdi answered, 
" In this house (meaning the temple) ; on the face of the earth I know 
nothing like it. 5 ' When, however, they came to Jerusalem and entered 
the sacred place there, the Khalif cried out, " Abu Abdillah, this is four 
times as magnificent." 

An anecdote given by Ibn Khallakan in the life of Hammad Arra- 
wiyah, may serve to impart some idea of the devotedness of the Khalifs 
of the house of Ummaiya to the muses. Hammad was the most con- 
versant of men in the history, the poetry, the genealogy, and the lan- 
guage of the Arabs : for which reason the princes of this family invited 
him to their society, honoured him with their esteem, and loaded him 
with their favours. One day, the Khalif Alwalid, son of Yazid, in his 
assembly of learned men, such as Arabian princes gloried to collect 
and to retain around them, said to Hammad, " How do you substan- 
tiate your right to the name of Arrawiyah (the narrator), which is usu- 
ally given you ?" Pie replied, " because I can relate, Commander of 
" the Faithful, the works of every poet with which you are acquainted, 
" or have heard of: I can, moreover, relate the works of those poets with 
(i which you are not acquainted and have not heard of; and no one can 
' repeat to me a poem, whether ancient or modern, but I can tell to 



48 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



" which of the two classes it belongs." The Khalif then asked, " What 
" number of poems do you retain in mind ?" He said, " a great many ; 
cc but T will undertake to repeat to you, for every letter of the alphabet, 
" one hundred poems of the larger description, besides small pieces, all 
" made before the introduction of Mahometan ism, independent of such 
" poetry as has been formed since that era." The Khalif said, " I will 
<c prove you in this matter:" Hammad then related, till the Khalif 
being tired, appointed some others to hear him ; and, when Alwalid 
was informed that he had actually repeated two thousand nine hun- 
dred odes of the poetry anterior to Mahometanism, he ordered one 
hundred thousand dirhems to be given to him. Hammad, also, speaking 
of himself, says, <tf being excluded from the royal presence during the 
".reign ofYazId, son of Abdulmalik, his brother Hisham treated me ill 
" on this account: when, therefore, after the death of Yazid, Hisham 
" came to the throne, I remained in my own house for the space of a 
" year, through fear of him ; going out, however, to none but secretly 
CI to such relations as I could trust. Finding that no mention was made 
cc of me during this time, I at length took courage to go forth to divine 
" service in Arrusafat, on a friday ; when, lo, two officers approached. 
cc me and said, e Hammad, you must come to the Emir, Yusuf ubn 
" Omar,' the then governor of Irak. Terrified at this message, I said, 
" i Can you permit me to go to my family and bid them farewell, as one 
" that never expects to see them again ?' The officers replied, ' that is 
11 not possible.' I then came before Yusuf, who was in the red palace ; 
" and, after he had returned my salutation, he threw tome a letter, the 
" contents of which were, " In the name of God the merciful, the for- 
giving. From Abdullah Hisham, Commander of the Faithful, to 
c ' Yusuf ubn Omar. As soon as thou readest this, my letter, send some 
{£ one to bring Hammad Arrawiyah, without terrifying him, to thee, 
" and deliver to him five hundred dinars, with a high bred camel, on 
e< which he will come in twelve nights to Damascus." As soon as I 
" had received the money, lo, a camel fitted out for travelling was at 
" hand, by which I reached Damascus on the twelfth night ; and, hav- 
" ing alighted at Hisham's gate, I obtained permission to approach 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN 



49 



■' him. The apartment which I entered to the Khalif was large, and 
" the floor was of marble, having a line of gold between every two 
" blocks. Here Hisham was seated on a red carpet, and clothed in 
" robes of red silk that dripped with musk and amber. After returning 
" my salutation, he desired me to come near, which I did, when two 
" damsels, such as I had never beheld before, in whose ears were rings 
" set with pearls of great value, appeared. He then enquired after my 
" health, and said, ' that he had sent for me on account of a verse which 
" had recurred in his mind, but of which he did not know the author/ 
" After hearing it, I both told him the name of the poet, and recited 
" the ode from which it is taken. Ready to spring up with joy, the 
" Khalif exclaimed, 1 Well done, Hammad ; ask what thou wiliest !' I 
" said, ' Whatever it may be ?' He replied, 'Yes.' I then said, c One 
" of these damsels.' He answered, ' They are both thine, with their 
" ' apparel, and whatever belongs to them.' " The Khalif, then, enter- 
tained Hammad in his own mansion till the morrow, when he trans- 
ferred him to a house prepared for his reception ; in which were the 
two damsels and every thing necessary to his comfort : and after keeping 
him near himself a considerable time, the Khalif caused one hundred 
thousand dirhems to be presented to him. 

Encouragement thus given to literature, shews the refinement of the 
Arabians under the dynasty of Ummaiya. Poets of the first class, such 
as Almakhziimi, who died in the year 93 of the Hijra ; Jarlr, who died 
in 111 ; Alfarazdak, who died about the same time ; Dhu-r-Rumma, 
who died in 117, flourished in this period : and, Abu-l-Aswad Zalim 
Addull, who is said to have followed the advice of the Khalif All in 
the undertaking, seems to have performed the arduous task of fixing 
rules for the stupendous language of the Arabs, during the dominion 
of this house in Asia. 

To the dynasty of Ummaiya succeeded that of Alabbas, in the year 
132 of the Hijra. Enlightened and magnificent as their predecessors 
and rivals in empire had been, the Khalifs of the house of Alabbas be- 
came in many respects still more illustrious. Abu Jaafar Almansiir, 
who succeeded to the sovereignty in 137, his grandson, Harun Arrashld, 

H 



50 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



and his great grandson Almamun, shine on the expanse of history, as 
fixed stars of the first magnitude, for their attention to literature and to the 
polite arts. By the first mentioned of these sovereigns the city of Baghdad 
was built : and, during the term of eighty years, reckoning from the 
accession of Almansur to the Khilafat, till the death of Almamun, the 
progress of literature was more rapid than it had ever been known before. 
Of philologists, by whom the rules of Arabic grammar were finally 
determined, we may mention the elder Alakhfash, Isa-bn Omar, who 
corrected, augmented, and arranged the original work of Abu-1 Aswad, 
Abu Amru-bnu-1 Ala, Alkhalil AlfarahTdT, who fixed the rules of pro- 
sody, Wasil-ubn Ata, Yunas ibn Habib, Sibawaih, Alkasai, Alyazidi, 
Alakhfash the medial, Alfarra, AlasmaT, Abu Obaidah, Ibnu-1 Aarabi, 
Kutrub, Ibn Shumail, and Hishamu-bn Muaviah : of poets, Marvan- 
ubn Abi Hafsah, YazTd-ubn Attatharia, Alattabi, Hammad Ajrad, Abu 
Nawas, Alyamami ; Alutbi, and Abu Tamam. Into the Arabian lan- 
guage, fixed and polished by such authors, the philosophy and sciences 
of all other people, with which the Arabs became acquainted, were 
speedily translated. 

On bursting from the sterile regions of their undisputed peninsula, 
where nature and habit conspired to render them comparatively as ge- 
nerous as their vaunted steeds, the Arabians spread themselves with the 
rapidity of a deluge over many fruitful countries, in which the people 
were too much enfeebled by luxury, despotism, and superstition, to re- 
pel the attack. Here, however, though they entered as unqualified 
conquerors, instigated by fanaticism, yet neither in civil nor in religious 
matters, did they oppress the subdued. On the payment of a light 
poll-tax towards the maintenance of the state, the Jew or Christian 
was as completely protected in his life, property, and religion, as the 
most scrupulous Moslem : and if particular treaties had been concluded, 
they were in all cases strictly observed : for, in direct opposition to the 
evasive conduct of a Christian monarch * hereafter described, both the 
tenets of Mahometanism and the honour of an Arab, admit not of a 
dereliction of faith, whatever specious arguments may be urged in its 

* The conqueror of Granada. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



51 



excuse. To this enlightened policy, which bigotry and ignorance 
excluded from most other people, the Arabs added the improvements 
in arts, which they had collected from the surrounding nations, and 
which their own sagacity could devise : so that, extensive as was their 
empire on the face of the earth, and it was the most extensive of which 
history furnishes any record, the benefits imparted to others from the 
industry and genius of the Arabs, are still more unlimited, and more to 
be wondered at, than was the prevalence of their arms. 

The peninsula of Spain had been conquered whilst the house of Urn- 
maiya possessed the supreme dignity of Khalif ; and when the sove- 
reignty in Asia was wrested from that family, Spain welcomed a fugitive 
member of it, and gladly received him as her lord. Contracted as the 
dominions of the house of Ummaiya now became, in comparison with 
that which it had once enjoyed, or with what the rival house of Alabbas 
possessed ; yet it proved itself by no means inferior to its former great- 
ness, or to that of the Khalifs of Baghdad, in the promotion of literature 
and the encouragement of the arts. Such empassioned admirers, indeed, 
were the Arabian princes generally of science, that their courts became 
the choicest abodes of the muses, both in the east and in the west; and, 
through the liberal aid of those princes, foreigners as well as natives 
attained the summit of elegance in various arts. Like Baghdad, Cor- 
dova soon became one of the greatest cities of the globe, to which 
strangers flocked from every side for information and for wealth: whilst 
the agriculture, manufactures, and commerce of Spain, as well as of the 
other Arabian dominions, were so wisely encouraged and protected, as 
to enrich the states beyond all preceding examples which history affords. 

It would be difficult to determine fully how much the modern na- 
tions of Europe stand indebted to the Arabs for the introduction of the 
sciences and of the arts, so great and numerous are the actual obliga- 
tions. Through them first came the mathematics ; the medicine and 
astronomy of the Greeks ; the Indian cyphers, with the use of them, as 
well as the science of algebra ; chemistry ; poetry, at least the measure 
and rhyme of the modern European versification ; the manufacture of pa- 
per, and probably that of gunpowder, as well as the mariner's compass : 



52 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



besides inventions and improvements in almost every liberal science, 
and in most of the useful arts. 

The decline of the Arabian dominion in Spain seems to have been 
occasioned rather by the connection with Africa than by the enmity of 
the Christians. Ibn Abi Aamir, who interrupted the established and 
prosperous sway of the family of Ummaiya, succeeded in his ambitious 
designs through the support of a powerful army of Barbars, which he 
collected from Africa to keep in subjection the people of Spain. The 
power thus usurped continued, indeed, but a short time in his family ; 
yet the bond of empire which he broke could never be re-united. After 
him, the chiefs of the Barbars and the most powerful of the Arabs, soon 
began to assume to themselves independent sovereignty in various parts 
of the country. Aliyu-bn Hamud, a distinguished officer in the army 
of the Barbars, having got possession of Cordova in the year 407 of the 
Hijra, introduced an army of Negros into Spain, to over-awe both the 
Barbars and the Arabs. Thus divided and oppressed, the people be- 
came incapable of repelling the very Christians, over whom they had 
so often triumphed : and, to assist them in their distress, they solicited 
the aid of an African prince, Yusufu-bn Tasifin ; who did, indeed, 
vanquish the Christians ; but who afterwards seized the greatest part 
of Spain. And the strength of the Arabs kept rapidly decreasing, under 
the domination of Africans, or of various native chieftains who surren- 
dered their fortresses to the common enemy, for the purpose of obtaining 
his aid in destroying each other, till the residue, though united, were 
no longer able to resist the force of their inveterate enemy. 



In some important particulars, these records will be found to differ 
from the accounts given by the Christian historians of Spain : but such 
disagreement need not invalidate the reader's confidence in the cor- 
rectness of the Arabian authors. These were witnesses of the events 
they commemorate, or they resided among those to whom the relations 
and memorials of such events must have been familiar; and their 
writings are conspicuous for the preference they display of veracity over 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



53 



every other consideration : but the authorities of the former are almost 
universally the partial representations of churchmen ; or, where these 
fail, in some cases the annals of the Arabs ill translated, and in others 
mere traditionary tales. The justice of the first of these remarks on the 
Christian historians of Spain must be at once evident from an inspection 
of Mariana's publication, and it is still too glaring in the later work of 
Gardonne : the dates of events according to the Christian JEra are very 
incorrectly given by both these authors : the two first leaders of the 
Arabs in the invasion of Spain, Tarif and Tarik, are confounded by 
Mariana, being mentioned by him as one person only : and in his ac- 
count of the descendants of Mahomet, from whom he derives erroneously 
the two great families of Ummaiya and Alabbas,* which successively 
ruled over the Moslems in Asia, scarcely a glimpse of truth appears.f 

To obviate, if possible, any misrepresentation of the original, the 
translation is made as nearly word for word as the difference of idiom 
would permit: and the translator has taken the liberty of omitting 
many passages both in verse and in prose, which are not easy of expla- 
nation to a mere European scholar, or which are not distinguished by 
any peculiar interest. Further, instead of a strict adherence to the au- 
thor's division of his history into books, according to the particular 
subjects of discussion, as before noticed, the narration is here arranged 
agreeable to the order of events in point of time. 

* See Mariana's History of Spain, book the 7th, chap. 5. 

f Casiri, in his Bibliotheca Arabico-Hispana Escurialensis, has given literal translations of 
some interesting extracts from various Arabian historians of Spain j and he is, perhaps, the only 
European author hitherto, whose information relative to the Arabs in this quarter of the globe, 
ought to be relied on. 



54 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



CHAPTER II. 

THE CONQUEST OF SPAIN BY THE ARABS, AND THE GOVERNMENT OF 
THE COUNTRY BY EMIRS, DEPENDENT ON THE KHALIFS OF SYRIA, OR 
THEIR GOVERNORS OF AFRICA. 



Arrival of Musa in Egypt or Africa — Accession of Roderic the Goth to the 
Throne of Spain — He seduces the Daughter of Count Julian, who persuades 
Musa to make an Incursion into Spain — Success of his Enterprise — Spain in- 
vaded by Turiku-bn Ziyad — Conspiracy against Roderic — Battle between the 
Goths and Arabs — Further successes of Tarik — Capture of Cordova — Progress 
of the Arabs— -Account of the celebrated Table of Toledo — Siege and Capture 
of Seville — Disputes between Musa and Tarik — They are reconciled — Ambitious 
Projects of Musa — Abdulaziz, Governor of Spain — -His Successors — The Chris- 
tians assemble under Pelagius. 

In the year 88 of the Hijra, according to Ibn Haiyan, the Khalif 
Alwalid, son of Abdulmalik, committed the government of Africa, with 
its dependencies, to Musa son of Nasir, an adherent of his uncle Abdul- 
aziz ; when Musa set forth from Syria with a small force only under 
his command : but on his arrival in Egypt, or as it is otherwise related, 
in Africa, he collected an army from the military there ; and giving his 
servant Tarik* charge of his van, he prosecuted the war with the 
Barbars till he reached Tangiers, the capital of their country. This 
city, which had not before been subdued, he besieged and took ; when 

* Tarik, son of Ziyad, according to some, or son of Amru, as related by others. He is said to 
have governed Tangiers after the conquest of that city. Ibn Bashkuval relates that he was more 
eloquent than can be described ; and his knowledge of government, the same historian remarks, 
was sufficiently proved byhis conquest and rule of Spain till the arrival of his superior, Musa. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



55 



the inhabitants embraced the Mahometan religion : but it is said that 
Tangiers revolted against Miisa, after having once surrendered. Miisa 
laid siege also to Ceuta ; here, however, owing to the good management 
of its wise and brave governor, Julian the Christian, he failed in his 
design : and when he sought to subdue it by famine, for which purpose 
he formed the blockade of the place, King Ghitisha,* then on the 
throne of Spain, supplied it so well with necessaries as to frustrate his 
attempt. 

On the death of this monarch, Roderic, a brave and warlike chieftain, 
having more influence in the state than the children of Ghitisha, pro- 
cured them to be set aside from the succession without either war or 
violence ; and, after some commotion, the people elected Roderic for 
their sovereign. At that time the capital of the country was Toledo ; 
in which city was a house that had been shut up for ages, and forbidden 
to be opened. To secure the observance of this prohibition, a number 
of locks were placed on it by people of trust among the Goths ; it being 
the custom with them, whenever a king was crowned, for the guardians 
of this house to ask of him a lock, which they hung on it, without re- 
moving any of those before applied to the like purpose. On the acces- 
sion of Roderic, however, to the throne, who was by nature suspicious 
and inquisitive, he not only refused to grant the lock solicited of him, 
but expressed his determination to open the house and discover what it 
might conceal. In vain was he forewarned, that all the kings before 
him had abstained from such an attempt, and prohibited it ; he went 
himself to the house, caused the locks to be removed in spite of the 
remonstrances and intreaties of his nobles, and entered the sacred place. 
But what was his disappointment, when, instead of a house full of trea- 
sure, which he had expected, he found only one chest locked up ! this, 
however, he still flattered himself, must contain something extremely 
valuable ; and, causing it to be opened without delay, he discovered in 
it nothing but a scroll, on which was the likeness of an Arab equipped 
for battle, and an inscription intimating, that when the locks of that 
bouse should be removed, the chest opened, and the figure on the scroll 

* Apparently intended for the Witiza or Uvitiza of the Spaniards. 



56 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



exposed, a people resembling that figure would enter Spain, subdue, 
and possess it. On reading this, Roderic was greatly troubled : and, 
having commanded the locks to be replaced, he committed the house 
again to the charge of its guardians, entered on the government of his 
kingdom, and soon became unmindful of the admonition he had re- 
reived on this occasion. 

Among the nobles and chiefs of the Barbarians* in Spain, it was 
customary for them to send their children to the residence of the King 
at Toledo, that they might be employed in his service, be habituated 
to the polished manners of his court, and obtain his patronage. When 
grown up, the sovereign would marry them to one another, agreeably 
to the dignity of their parents, give them suitable portions, and cele- 
brate their nuptials. In compliance with this custom, Julian the go- 
vernor of Ceuta, conveyed a daughter of his, who was extremely beau- 
tiful, to Toledo : when the King beheld her, he was so enamoured of 
her, that he did not hesitate to obtain by violence the gratification of 
his passion, when persuasion had failed. With this indignity the lady 
contrived by a secret letter to acquaint her father ; who in his rage 
exclaimed, " By the faith of the Messiah, I will annihilate his power, 
and undermine his feet :" and crossing the straits from Ceuta, though 
in the midst of winter, he hastened to Toledo to the presence of King 
Roderic ; who blamed him for coming at so unseasonable a time, and 
questioned him as to the cause of his journey. Dissembling his real 
motive, he pretended that his wife being seriously indisposed, and de- 
siring greatly to see her daughter once more before she died, had en- 
treated him to fetch her ; f and that, from his desire to accomplish the 
wish of his wife, he requested the king to allow him to return imme- 
diately, and his daughter to accompany him. This request, so spe- 
ciously urged, was promptly granted ; and, after shewing Julian much 
favour, the king delivered to him his daughter, trusting that she would 

* The Arabs designate all people different from themselves by a term justly answering to the 
word here adopted, as used by the Greeks for the like purpose. 

f This account seems more simple and probable than that given by Cardonne. See Histoire 
de l'Afrique et de l'Espagne, par M. Cardonne, p. 63. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



57 



conceal what had passed, from her father. On his return to Ceuta, 
Julian delayed not to commence the execution of his revenge : for this 
purpose, he hastened to the city of Ifrikia to meet the Emir Musa, son 
of Naslr, to persuade him to invade Spain ; and after the representations 
which he made of the riches of the peninsula, the temperature of its 
climate, and the abundance of its useful productions, as well as of the 
weakness of the Goths, and the internal dissensions prevailing among 
them, Musa became eager to seize such an opportunity as now pre- 
sented itself ; and formed a treaty of alliance with Julian, by which 
the latter was bound to join the Moslems, and to second them. But 
before Musa would actually engage in so hazardous an enterprise, he 
first required of Julian to evince his determined animosity against his 
countrymen by attacking them himself. To this requisition the Count 
acceded ; and having collected troops from his own government, and 
embarked them on board two ships, he made, at the close of the nine- 
tieth year of the Hijra, a predatory incursion on the coast of Aljaziratu-1- 
Khazra.* After staying there a few days, during which he gained much 
plunder, he returned safely with all his men ; and as the Moslems be- 
gan to confide in Julian, Musa now applied to the Khalif for permission 
to invade Spain : when Alwalidu-bn Abdulmalik, the then commander 
of the faithful, directed him to make an incursion into the country, that 
he might previously ascertain its actual state ; and not to venture in- 
cautiously with the Moslems on the perilous ocean. In consequence 
of this instruction, Musa informed the Khalif that the sea between 
Africa and Spain was merely a strait, which the eye could reach across, 
and not a tremendous ocean. Alwalid then commanded him, if even 
such were the case, to make previous trial of the country, as before 
pointed out. Musa therefore dispatched a Barbar, one of his officers, 
named Tarif, with four hundred foot and one hundred horse, in four 
vessels : they effected a landing on an island, now called the island of 
Tarif, over against Aljaziratu-l-Khazra ; where he remained some days 

* The verdant island : and the term seems applicable to either the city of Algesiras or to that 
extremity of Andalusia, on which Algesiras is situated ; for the Arabs call a peninsula (such as 
they may have regarded this point) as well as an island, jazlrat, 

I 



58 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



till all his men had joined him. Afterwards, he made an incursion into 
the country and obtained much valuable plunder, especially a captive, 
more beautiful than any whom Miisa or his people had before seen. 
This expedition took place in the month Ramazan of the year 91 :* and 
on witnessing its success, the people became eager to enter on the pro- 
jected invasion. f 

At the repeated instigations of Julian, seconded by these fortunate 
enterprises, Musa then commissioned a servant of his, named Tariku-bn 
Ziyad,^ who led the van of his army, to proceed to Spain with seven 
thousand men ; these were chiefly Barbars (or natives of Barbary) and 
slaves, very few of them being genuine Arabs ; they were conveyed over 
at different times in four vessels, which were provided by Julian, and 
which passed and repassed till the whole had joined their leader at the 
rock named after him. Ibn Haiyan dates the landing of Tarik on a 
Saturday in the month Shaaban of the year 92. § It is otherwise said, 
that Tarik disembarked at the rock named after him, on the 5th of 
Rajab in the same year;^[ that the number embarked amounted to 
twelve thousand men, less by sixteen, which were almost entirely Bar- 
bars ; that Julian transported this force at various times to the coast of 

* About July A.C. 710. 

■f" It is otherwise said, that Tarlf had one thousand men, and that a Shaikh of the Barbars, 
named Abu Dhua, invaded the land after him ; yet it is also said that the sirname of Tarlf was 
Abu Dhua. Arrazy calls him Abu Zaraa Tarlf, the sirname being placed first, contrary to the usual 
custom. 

J Ibn Bashkuval, however, calls him Tariku-bn Omar, or Amru ; and he is said by some au- 
thors to have been a freeman, a native of Hamadan in Persia, and by others a native of Barbary. 
But whatever his name or condition might be, he is undoubtedly a different person from the com- 
mander of the first expedition, though Mariana, the Spanish historian, describes them as the same ; 
on this point, however, as well as on many others respecting the Arabs, the author last mentioned 
was evidently so deficient in information, and so blinded by prejudice, as rarely to deserve any 
credit. 

§ The Arabian also mentions the month of August as corresponding to the date here given ; 
but in this there must be a mistake ; as Shaaban of the year 92 of the Hijra began about the 24th 
of May, and consequently ended about the 22d of June, A. C. 7H. Cardonne, the French author, 
however, differently from the best Arabic historians, fixes the date of this descent on Spain, in the 
year 96 of the Hijra, or 714 of Christ. 

<5I About the 29th of April, A. C. 711. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



59 



Andalusia in merchant vessels (whence collected is unknown) ; and 
that Tarik passed over after his army.* 

When Roderic received intelligence of this invasion, and learned 
that Julian had instigated it, he was in the territory of Pamplona, car- 
rying on a war against theBascons.f Sensible, however, of the danger 
that impended from this unexpected attack, he hastened to avert it : 
and coming to Cordova, he took up his abode in the castle there, which 
the Arabs called after him the Palace of Roderick and waited till his 
troops had assembled from different parts and joined him. As soon as 
his numerous host was collected, he proceeded towards the district of 
Shadhuna : § and, on learning the great superiority of the King's army, 

* Ibn Bashkuval, however, relates that Tarik landed on the rock named after him, Jabalu-t 
Tarik (Gibraltar), Avhich the common people call Jabalu-1 Fath (Mount of Victory), on Monday 
the fifth of Rajab of the year 92, with twelve thousand men, wanting twelve ; and that this army 
was almost wholly composed of Barbars, but very few Arabs being amongst them. Ibn Khaldun, 
another historian, says that Tarik passed the straits with about three hundred Arabs and ten thou- 
sand Barbars, which force he divided into two parts ; he himself landing with one division at 
Jabalu-1 Fath, named, in consequence of this event, Jabalu-t Tarik ; and Tarlfu-bn Malik with 
the other division disembarking at the spot where the city, called Tarifa after him, is situated. 
These stations the invaders walled round and fortified. 

f M. Cardonne represents Roderic as at this time engaged in pleasures rather than in war ; and 
he mentions a battle previous to that in which Roderic fell ; but, afterwards, he says that at the 
battle of Ecija, " the Christians were obliged to yield a second time," intimating that there had 
been only one battle before. How is this to be reconciled ? 

X This castle, however, was not founded by Roderic ; but it is supposed by the natives to have 
been rebuilt by one of their kings, who resided in the fortress of Mmodavar, below Cordova. This 
king, one day, proceeded in hunting till he came to the spot on which Cordova now stands, but 
which was then desolate ; and where the castle exists, there was an impervious thicket of brambles. 
Near this place, the king let fly a favourite hawk at a partridge, which descended into the thicket, 
but which the hawk still continued to pursue. When the king arrived, he commanded the thicket 
to be opened, for the purpose of delivering his hawk, which was entangled in it : and, on cutting 
away the underwood, the foundations of a large castle were discovered. As these were of excellent 
workmanship, he caused an edifice to be built on the same : and as he afterwards frequented it in 
hunting, and on other occasions, people began to settle near it ; so that Cordova originated with 
this castle, which became the successive inheritance of the princes of the country. 

§ This place is called Shadhuna by the Arabs, and resembles Sidonia in sound : though the 
battle is generally or universally understood by Europeans to have happened near Xeres ; and 
some Arabic authors describe Shadhuna and Xeres as the same. 



60 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



which is said to have amounted to near one hundred thousand men, 
completely equipped and prepared, Tarik wrote to Musa for assistance, 
saying, that he had taken Algesiratu-1 Khazra, the port of Andalusia, 
got possession of the passage into the country, and subdued its districts 
as far as the lake ; * but that Roderic was advancing against him with 
a force which he had not the means of resisting. Musa, therefore, who 
had been engaged in preparing ships for the purpose of conveying 
troops, since Tank's departure, and had by this time collected a great 
number, dispatched by them five thousand Moslems,! making with the 
seven thousand before expedited, according to Ibn Haiyan, twelve 
thousand men, eager for plunder and anxious to engage with their op- 
ponents. To this body, also, were joined the forces of Julian, who 
guided the Moslems to the passes of the country, as well as gathered 
intelligence for them. 

On the approach of Roderic to meet his enemies, the princes and 
chiefs of the Barbarians conspiring together said, te this wretch has by 
ec force got the dominion over us, to which he is not justly entitled, and 
<e his conduct gives us reason to suspect his designs against us, whilst 
Ci these invaders do not wish to settle in our country, but their inten- 
<c tion is to return when they have laden themselves with plunder ; let 

us, therefore, desert the usurper in battle, that these strangers may 
" deliver us from him : and when they shall have departed, we can 
" place on the throne him to whom it rightly belongs. 5 '' In this senti- 
ment they coincided, and agreed to act accordingly. The sons of 
Ghitisha,^ the last king, too, who in hopes of gaining the throne of 
their father, headed this conspiracy, commanded the right and left 
wings of the Gothic army : and, previous to the engagement, they made 

* By this word, some part of the bay of Cadiz may perhaps be intended ; or the mouth of the 
Guadalete, or the bay of Puerto de Santa Maria. 

t Cardonne says that Musa sent a reinforcement of seven thousand men ; but this is disproved 
by what follows in his work. 

% This statement differs from Cardonne, who relates, but on what authority is unknown, that 
the sons of Vitiza had retired to the Gothic possessions in Africa ; and that it was Oppas, arch- 
bishop of Seville, who joined the invaders on the day of battle. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 61 

an offer to Tarik of joining him in the battle ; on condition, that after 
gaining the victory, he should secure to them all their father's posses - 
sions in Spain, amounting to three thousand valuable farms or manors. 
• The reason they urged for this defection was, that Roderic, who was a 
servant only of their father's and their inferior, had by force deprived 
them of the power he then possessed. Tarik, of course, did not hesitate 
to accept these proposals ; and the junction they formed with him, after 
the battle had commenced, was a principal cause of his success. 

According to the historian Arrazy, the contest, between the two ar- 
mies began on Sunday the last day but two of the month Ramazan, and 
continued till Sunday the fifth ofShavwal,* when the Almighty put the 
idolaters to flight ; and the bones of the slain continued for a long time 
afterwards to cover the field of battle. Others relate, that when Roderic 
was informed of the descent of Tarik from the rock (of Gibraltar) he 
was at war in a distant part ; but that he hastened to oppose the invaders 
with an army of seventy thousand f men ; bringing at the same time 
his treasures on waggons, whilst he himself rode on a throne, borne be- 
tween two beasts of burthen, having a canopy over him set with pearls, 
rubies, and emeralds. Towards the end of the month Ramazan of the 
year 92, Tarik fixed his camp near that of Roderic, and the two armies 
engaged on the Guadalike (perhaps Guadalete) in the district of Shad- 
huna ; or, as another describes the field of battle, at the lake ; % when 
they fought resolutely on both sides, till the right and left wings, in 

*• About the 25th of July, A. C. f 11. 

f Ibn Khaldun, however, rates the army of Roderic at forty thousand men only : and he men- 
tions that the conflict happened on the plain of Xeres. 

I This spot has been thus mentioned before : and most Arabic historians, besides Ibn Khaldun, 
fix the battle in the territory of Shadhuna, which word apparently denotes Sidonia: and from this 
circumstance, as well as from that of Roderic's attempting to cross the river after his defeat, it 
seems probable that the battle was actually fought in the territory of Medina Sidonia, and not at 
Xeres : yet the latter place is said to have been called Shadhuna by the Arabs : though, as it is 
subsequently said that Tarik advanced to the siege of Medina Shadhuna immediately after gaining 
the battle, and this is said to have been fought at the lake, may it not have been fought at the lake 
near Bolonia ? and, may not the river, here called the Guadalike, be the small one between Medina 
Sidonia and Tarifa, and not the Guadalete ? 



62 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



which were the sons of Ghitisha, fled : but still the centre, with Roderic, 
stood firm a little while. Being panic struck, however, by some occur- 
rence, Koderic himself with the main body of the army soon took to flight ; 
and no certain intelligence was afterwards received of him : though his 
horse, bearing a saddle covered with gold and adorned with rubies, was 
found by the Moslems plunging in the mud of the river ; and one of 
his boots, but not the other, was discovered sticking in the mud ; from 
which circumstances it is conjectured, that he perished in the stream. 
After the battle, the nobles and great men of the Goths who had fallen, 
were known by the rings of gold on their fingers ; those of inferior 
condition by similar ornaments of silver ; and the slaves were distin- 
guished by brass. Of the plunder Tarik deducted one fifth ; and the 
rest was divided among nine thousand Moslems, besides the servants 
and followers. 

When the people across the straits heard of this success of Tarik, and 
of the spoils he had acquired, they flocked to him from all quarters, 
passing the sea on every boat or bark they could find. At this the 
people of Spain were obliged to quit the plain country, and to betake 
themselves to their mountains and fortresses. Tarik first advanced 
against Medina Shadhuna,* which he besieged and took by force of 
arms : thence he proceeded to Madhrur ; f whence he turned to Car- 
mona, and thence to Seville ; the people of the latter place making 
peace with him on condition of paying tribute. Next, he advanced to 
Ecija,$ and laid siege to it: though the people were strong, and with 
them was the remnant of Roderic's army ; yet, after a severe battle, in 
which many of the Moslems were killed or wounded, it pleased God 
to grant them the victory. No subsequent battle was experienced by 
the Moslems so severe as this ; yet they valiantly resisted the enemy till 
Tarik meeting its crafty and perverse governor, who had chanced to go 

* Apparently intended for Medina Sidonia ; yet it is not likely that Tarik would have returned 
thither, if the battle was fought at Xeres. 

f Does this place still exist ? and has it another name in Spanish ? The same place is again 
mentioned in the original. Casiri reads the word Moror ; and asks whether it may not be Moron ? 

X But Cardonne asserts, that " he (Tarik) marched straight to Ecija," after gaining the battle. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



63 



to the river without attendance on some occasion, attacked him in the 
water ; and, discovering in the fight between them who he was, Tarik 
granted him peace on the favourable terms of paying the usual tribute, 
which secured to the inhabitants their own laws and property in other 
respects. When the people of the country perceived how Tarik con- 
tinued to advance in it, their alarm increased greatly ; for they had be- 
fore imagined, that his object in the attack was only to collect plunder, 
and that his intention was afterwards to return to Africa: but, actuated 
by despair, they now abandoned the open country ; the more powerful 
fleeing to Toledo, and the rest betaking themselves to the forts and 
fortresses in the mountains. Tarik, too, sought to encrease the terror 
of the Christsans, by directing his men to cook the flesh of the slain 
in presence of the captives, as if it was intended to be eaten ; and, af- 
terwards, allowing some to escape, that they might report to their 
countrymen the ferocious disposition of their terrible foes. 

On the submission of Ecija, Tarik dispatched Mughaithu-r Rumy 
with seven hundred horse (for the Moslems were by this time all 
mounted on horses taken from their vanquished opponents) to Cordova : 
he also sent divisions of his army against Malaga and Granada ; but 
with the chief body of his forces, he himself hastened on towards To- 
ledo.* The division of the army expedited to Cordova, having gained 
the bank of the river of Shakanda, fixed themselves in a wood of 
pines, whence sending forth spies, they seized a shepherd, who in- 
formed them that the principal people of Cordova had departed to To- 
ledo, but that the commander of the city remained in it with four hun- 
dred men of the army, besides the less powerful citizens. This man 
being further questioned respecting the walls of the city, said that they 
were strong and high, but that there was a breach in them, which he 
described. When the darkness of night came on, they, thus prepared, 
approached the city ; and the Almighty facilitated the means of suc- 
cess : for, there happened a fall of hail, which prevented the stepping 

* It is however said by some historians, that Tarik led the army against Cordova himself, and 
not Mughaith. 



64 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



of the horses from being heard, and the Moslems proceeded gently tili 
they had passed the river, between which and the walls there is a dis- 
tance of not more than thirty cubits; when they attempted to scale the 
walls, but were unable. In this difficulty they had again recourse to the 
shepherd, who led them to the very breach : it was, however, found not 
to be easy of ascent ; but there was a tig tree adjoining, the branches 
of which afforded the means of mounting ; and one of the strongest of 
the Moslems having by this gained the top of the breach, Mughaith 
unfolded his turban, and giving this man one end of it, others, one 
by one, ascended by it, till a considerable number had gained the sum- 
mit of the wall. They then rushed upon the guard within the city ; 
and, having killed part of it, they broke open the gate, and let in their 
comrades, who took the place by force. Having thus rapidly obtained 
possession of the town, Mughaith, with his comrades, hastened to the 
palace ; but the governor had received intelligence of the entry of the 
Moslems, and had fled, accompanied by his four hundred adherents, 
to a church in the west part of the city, where he fortified himself ; 
and, as water was conveyed under ground to this church from a spring 
at the foot of the mountains, the besieged maintained themselves in 
it for the space of three months. It happened however, that a black 
man of the Moslem army was taken prisoner by the Christians in the 
church ; and as they had not seen a person of his colour before, they 
were astonished, and took him to their conduit of water to wash him, 
supposing his blackness to be fictitious. After seven days of imprison- 
ment, this man contrived to effect his escape ; and having informed his 
commander of the manner and the direction in which this place was 
supplied with water, the conduit was discovered and stopped. Though 
the besieged had now no hope of deliverance, yet, when safety was 
offered them on condition either of embracing the Mahometan faith or 
of paying tribute, they still obstinately refused to submit ; and the 
church being set on fire around them, they perished in the flames.* For 

* This account of the taking of Cordova, and the destruction of the Christians in the church, 
is much more particular and satisfactory than that given by Cardonne. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



65 



this reason, the place is called the church of the burning," and is 
greatly respected by Christians, on accouut of the patience displayed in 
the cause of their religion by the people who perished in it. Their com- 
mander, however, deserted them in their extremity ; and, attempting 
to flee to Toledo, was pursued and taken by the Moslems. This was 
the only governor made captive in the conquest of Spain, the rest 
either surrendering on terms, which secured to them their liberty, or 
fleeing to Gallicia ; and he was guarded in prison for the purpose of 
being presented to the Khalif. 

With respect to the men who perished in the church, there is, how- 
ever, a different tradition ; which is, that after their chief was taken 
captive, Mughaith beheaded all the rest ; and the place is also called 
" the church of the captives." 

The forces that proceeded against Malaga, having got possession of 
it, joined the army expedited to Albira ; and, after a siege, they took 
Granada, the capital of that province, by storm. In these cities, when 
captured, as well as in Cordova, the Jews were received and trusted in 
preference to the Christians ; the former, on account of the animosity 
existing between them and the latter, being left with a few Moslems 
in the defence of these places: but this system was generally pursued 
throughout the country, and where Jews were deficient, a proportion^ 
ally greater body of Moslems was left in charge. 

After the subjection of these cities, the army marched to Tadmir,* 
the governor of which was also called Tadmir, and the capital of the 
province was Uriyula, a place celebrated for its strength ; and Tadmir 
was himself a man of discernment and understanding. Having ven- 
tured a battle in the open country, in which he was routed, and most 
of his men were slain, he ordered the women, on his arriving at Uriyula, 
with a very insignificant body of warriors, t to dress themselves like 

* Said by Archbishop Rodnic to be the same as Murcia, but the Arabs called the chief city 
also Tadmir ; and they relate, that Murcia became the capital of the province after it : whence, 
as well as from the resemblance in the names, it seems to be Orihuela. 

t Cardonne says, that the greater part of the inhabitants had quitted the place, for which rea- 
son the governor used the stratagem of parading the women on the walls: the more likely cause, 
however, seems to be, that the greater part of the garrison fell in the sortie, as here related. 

K 



66 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



men, and to parade on the walls with arms; he, himself, and the small 
remnant of his army, marching before them, in the hope of deceiving 
the Moslems with regard to the real strength of the garrison. In this 
stratagem he succeeded, and obtained terms of security for his people as 
well as for himself ; which terms were faithfully observed, notwithstand- 
ing the vexation experienced by the Moslems at the artifice when dis- 
covered : so that the district of Tadmir escaped the evils of conquest 
through this contrivance of its governor. 

For the protection of these places, which were thus speedily subdued, 
a small portion only of the army was left, together with the Jews in 
them, as before noticed ; and the principal part of it proceeded to To- 
ledo, to join Tarik in the siege of that city. 

Ibn Haiyan says, that the people had quitted Toledo when Tarik 
reached it, and betaken themselves to a town dependant on it beyond 
the mountains: the Jews, however, had collected themselves in the 
metropolis. Having therefore left a body of his men in charge of that 
city, he himself passed on after the fugitives. First he proceeded to 
Guadalaxara; thence to the mountains, which he traversed at a pass, 
named after himself ; and thence to the city of the Table,* beyond 
the mountains: from this place he continued his career to the city, in 
which the people had fortified themselves, t where he made much va- 
luable plunder. According to some authors, Tarik did not advance 
beyond this station before his return to Toledo ; others, however, say, 
that he first penetrated into the Gallicias, and subdued the country as 
far as Astorga. 

The famous Table, J from which the town above-mentioned took its 
name among the Arabs, is said to have belonged to King Solomon, son 
of David. Various accounts are, however, given of its form, as well as 
of its origin: some describe it as formed of one piece of green jasper, 

* Now called Medina Celi. -j* Apparently the city called Amaya by Casiri. 

X Bat this table is also said to have been found at Toledo ; and, besides it, of valuable plun- 
der, one hundred and seventy crowns formed of pearls, rubies, and other precious stones. It is, 
moreover, related, that there was a gallery or hall full of gold and silver vessels, so extensive that 
horsemen took the diversion of throwing the spear in it. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



67 



both its surface and its feet ; the latter being reported to amount to 
three hundred and sixty-five in number : Ibn Haiyan, however, says, 
that though named after King Solomon, this table was never his; but 
that it originated in the custom, observed by respectable people among 
the Christians, of bequeathing property to the churches ; whence valuable 
utensils, such as tables and thrones, were procured, on which the gospels 
were exhibited at processions, and with which the altars were adorned: 
by means of such bequests, this table at Toledo was fabricated, and, 
being at the seat of government, it was emulously encreased and beau- 
tified by each succeeding sovereign to such a degree, that eye had beheld 
nothing comparable to it. The fabric was of pure gold, adorned with the 
most precious pearls, rubies, and emeralds ; around it was a row of each 
of those valuable stones, and the whole was crowned with jewels. Among 
the charges brought by Tarik against Musa, before the Khalif, Sulaiman, 
this part of the plunder constituted the ground of one : and, by 
producing a leg which he had broken off from it before his delivering 
it to Musa, Tarik disproved the words of the latter ; who falsely as- 
serted to the Khalif, that the table had been obtained by himself, and 
had never been in Tarik' s possession. 

When Musa received from Tarik an account of his victory over 
Roderic, and of the spoils he had found, he was moved with jealousy 
against him, and prepared to lead an army himself to Spain. Having, 
therefore, committed Africa to his eldest son, Abdullah, he proceeded to 
that quarter with a numerous body of soldiers and of chiefs, amounting 
to eighteen thousand men, or upwards ; and he reached Spain in the 
month Ramazan of the year ninety-three.* On his arrival, he not only 
avoided the rock at which Tarik disembarked, and landed at another 
named after himself, Jabal Musa ; but he refused to penetrate the 
country by the same route which Tarik had taken. His guides, there- 
fore, who were Julian's adherents, promised to conduct him to cities of 
more importance, and more replete with plunder than those which 
Tarik had conquered : and after descending into Aljaziratu-1 Khazra, 



* June, A. C. 712. 



68 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



they led him along the coast by Shadhuna, which place he took by 
storm: thence he proceeded to Carmona, than which there was not a 
stronger fortress in Spain ; but he gained it through the means of Ju- 
lian's people, who were admitted by the citizens, as being a small body 
of their own countrymen only. Musa, however, approached in the 
night, and the small party which had been allowed to enter, contrived 
to open a gate for him, so that his forces rushed in, and at once made 
themselves masters of the place. Musa next advanced to Seville, the 
greatest and most wonderful of the cities of Spain ; and, which had 
been the capital before the Goths conquered the country, and transfer- 
red the government to Toledo. Still, however, the chiefs of the reli- 
gion resided there. This city held out some months against Musa, till 
being reduced to the necessity of surrendering, the chiefs of the infi- 
dels fled to Beja; and Musa left the Jews with a small body of his 
own troops for the protection of the place : he, himself, passing on to 
Merida, which had been formerly the seat of government under some 
of the princes of the country.* This city was very strong : in it were 
the remains of palaces, temples of a vast size, and other public struc- 
tures ; and the people being brave and determined, repulsed the Mos- 
lems several times with great loss. Having approached one of the 
towers, by means of a machine constructed for guarding the besiegers, 
the Moslems endeavoured to undermine the wall, but were met by a 
counter work of the besieged. The Moslems, moreover, through their 
incautiousness, were many of them slaughtered in this machine ; 
whence the tower, against which it was directed, was called by the 
Moslems the " tower of the martyrs." Musa then offered to treat 
with the besieged on terms of capitulation : and when a deputation 
came forth to settle with him the conditions, he made use of a device 
to astonish them ; and received them the first time, shewing his white 
hair, and his beard undressed, of the same colour ; but, not agreeing 

* It appears, too, from the context in a part of this history, that Musa sent his son Abdu-I 
Aala against Malaga, Granada, &c. But Cardonne seems to have mistaken Abdulazlz (who, 
from what follows, must have been at the siege of Merida) for his brother, Abdu-1 Aala, who 
may have continued his conquests to Valencia. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



69 



then, they returned on the day before the feast after the expiration of 
the fast of Ramazan, and were surprised to behold his beard, which he 
had tinged with Hinna, of a red colour ; and, visiting him the next day, 
they were still more astonished at finding it black, as they were totally 
unacquainted with the practice of staining the beard. Going back to 
their fellow citizens, they then reported that they had been introduced 
to one of the prophets, who could change his appearance at pleasure ; 
as the chief had transformed himself from an old man to a young one : 
and they declared their advice to be, that they should return and con- 
cede to his demands. At this the people submitted ; and the terms of 
capitulation were agreed to, that the property of such citizens as fell on 
the day of a certain ambuscade, or as had fled to Gallicia, with all the 
riches and ornaments of the churches, should be given up to the Mos- 
lems : and the city surrendered on the day of the festival at the close 
of the fast of Ramazan, in the year 94.* 

In the mean time the people of Seville conspired with those of Beja 
and Laila f to break the treaty entered into with the Moslems ; and 
they killed about eighty persons of the latter: in consequence of which, 
the Emir Musa, after the subjugation of Merida, dispatched his son, 
Abdulaziz, with an army, against those places. He first reduced Seville, 

* About the last day of June, 713. 

-}• Called by the Spaniards Ilipula ; and said by Cardonne to have been situate between Seville 
and Cordova. That author also describes the revolt as having originated with the people of Me- 
rida, which seems not so likely as what is here related ; nor does his topography of Laila appear 
so probable as that of Mariana, who fixes it in the same place as the modern Niebla. But Car- 
donne's account of this revolt, and of the situation of Musa and of his son Abdulaziz at the time, 
differs widely from that here given. The destruction, too, of Laila or Ilipula, which Cardonne 
asserts was the consequence of this revolt, must have been imagined only by that author : no 
such barbarous severity seems imputable to Musa, though represented by the same author as 
<f feroce et faisant la guerre en barbare, et sans respecter aucune des loix de Phumanite for the 
Arabic historians make no mention of so extraordinary an atrocity among them, and Laila will be 
found still to exist in this history. Besides, Laila and Beja do not appear to have been subject to 
the Moslems : these cities were, therefore., not guilty of treachery or of conduct deserving chas- 
tisement, as might be the case with respect to Seville, which had revolted after being allowed 
favourable conditions of peace by the enemy. 



70 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



and chastised its inhabitants ; then, he marched against Laila, which 
he took : and, having restored the order of things, he fixed himself at 
the former city. 

About the end of the month Shavwal,*Miisa left Merida to go to Tole- 
do: but, Tarik being informed of his design, went forth with the chiefs of 
his people to receive him ; and the two conquerors met at some place 
in the district of Talavera. It is, however, said that Miisa entered Gal- 
licia by the pass named after him, and penetrated through that country 
till he overtook the leader of the van of his army, Tarik, at Astorga ; 
when Musa quarrelled with him publicly, and manifested his animosity 
towards him. But it is also reported that immediately on beholding 
Musa, Tarik alighted to do honour to him ; when Musa cried out 
against him with a loud voice, and reproached him for presuming to 
act independently of him and contrary to his orders. f They then pro- 
ceeded together to Toledo, where Musa required of him to produce the 
booty and public treasures in his hands ; and the celebrated table was 
a specific article which he insisted on having without delay : but Tarik, 
before giving up the table, had taken from it one of the feet, which he 
concealed ; and when questioned by Musa respecting it, he replied 
that the table was in the same state, when he found it, and that he 
knew nothing of the part wanting.^ Miisa then caused a foot of pure 
gold to be made, though far from equalling the other, yet as handsome 
as could be then procured. 

After these transactions, Musa appeared reconciled to Tarik ; and 
restoring to him the command of the van of the army, directed him to 

* July, 713. 

f There is no intimation here of Musa's striking Tarik with his whip, as Cardonne has ventured 
to assert ; nor does there seem any probability that such an outrage could have proceeded from an 
Arab of Musa's character, however much he might have been piqued with jealous rage against his 
inferior. Cardonne, however, says that Musa kept Tarik in prison, with a design to murder him ; 
and that he was saved only by the interference of the Khalif's legate : and Alhumaidy, the his- 
torian, relates that Musa did actually intend to kill him ; but, in the mean time, a letter arrived 
from the Khalif, Alwalid, commanding Musa to set him at liberty j which was obeyed, and Musa 
proceeded with him to Syria. 

% This device was adopted by Tarik to prove that the prize was his ; as will be afterwards shewn. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 71 

precede with his men ; Musa himself following with the great body of 
the forces. Ascending towards the upper frontiers,* they then sub- 
dued Saragossa, with its dependencies : and continuing to penetrate 
still farther into the country, they passed no place without reducing it ; 
for the Almighty had impressed the dread of them on the hearts of the 
infidels. When they had reached the confines, after receiving the sub- 
mission of all the people through whom they passed, (for none dared to 
offer resistance), Musa himself halted some time to ascertain whether 
the people he had subdued were likely to acquiesce, or not, in the con- 
ditions imposed upon them : but the Moslems he sent forwards into 
France ; and they continued to subdue and plunder the country, till 
they reached the river Rhone, that being the limit beyond which the 
Arabians pushed not their conquests in the land of the barbarians. 
With his legions and cohorts, however, Tarik made himself master of 
the two cities of Barcelona and Narbonne, besides the rock of Anibun 
and the fortress of Ludun f on the river Rhone. 

But this irruption of the Moslems alarmed the King of the Franks ; 
who collected his forces, and marched against them with a great army. 
He came first to the fortress of Ludun ; from which he proceeded to the 
rock of Anibun ; but he found none of the Moslems there, because they 
had encamped themselves before him, amongst the mountains that over- 
hang Narbonne : and, though they had been informed of the greatness 
of his force, yet success had rendered them so incautious that they al- 
lowed the enemy to surround them, and cut off* their retreat to Narbonne, 
before they were aware of his approach. In this situation, the Moslems 
had a severe battle, in which a number of them fell ; but, they at length 
succeeded in forcing their way through the ranks of the enemy, till they 
reached Narbonne, and secured themselves in its fortifications. The 
Franks then laid siege to the city ; but. after some days, having lost 
many men, and fearing the succours that might be sent to the Moslems, 

* By the words here translated, " upper frontiers," Arragon seems intended. 

f What places are these names intended to designate ? Perhaps Avignon may be the first; as 
the Arabs are said to have taken that city. Cardonne is unable to ascertain them ; and he men- 
tions Carcassone as the extremity of the Moslem irruption. 



72 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



their king relinquished the attempt, and returned to his own territory : 
he however erected fortresses on the Rhone, and filled them with troops, 
as frontier garrisons against the Moslems. 

Having thus subdued the land of Spain from Cadiz in the west, to 
Barcelona in the east, and to Narbonne in the north ; Musa formed the 
design of forcing his way across the continent of Europe, from Spain to 
Constantinople ; and of returning to the presence of the Khalif by that 
route, after he should have subdued all the intermediate nations : but, 
this project being communicated, through some channel, in an unfa- 
vourable light to the Khalif, Alwalid, he was greatly terrified at the 
risk his forces would incur in such an enterprise ; and he immediately 
dispatched an envoy, not only with letters of reproof to Musa on this 
account, and with orders for him to return, but with a commission di- 
recting the envoy himself to lead back the Moslems, if Musa should 
hesitate. Yet, so intent was Musa on subduing the Gallicias, that he 
prevailed on the envoy, by offering him half his own share of the spoils, 
to consent to his invading that country ; which he passed through till 
he reached the sea, destroying the churches and breaking all the bells. 
The interference of the Khalif, however, who dispatched a second en- 
voy to recall him, disconcerted Musa's designs : having, therefore, made 
suitable arrangements for the protection of his conquests, and committed 
the government of Spain to his son, Abdulaziz, he returned to Cairuan 
in the year 95:* and, the following year, he left that seat of his govern- 
ment in Africa, and proceeded with the vast booty he had acquired, of 
which thirty thousand captives f constituted a part, to the court of the 
Khalif at Damascus. 

When Musa returned to Syria, Alwalid was either dead, or nearly 
at the point of death ; and authors are at variance on this particular. 
Those who make the first assertion say, that Sulaiman, brother and 

* 713 or 714, A.C 

f Cardonne says they were thirty thousand females, all daughters of the chiefs of the Goths : 
but the specification of females does not occur in the manuscript here translated. It is, however, 
recorded that Musa twice sent the Khalif Abdulmalik, twenty thousand female captives of the 
Barbars from Africa. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



73 



successor of Alwalid, was ill-disposed towards Miisa : and that Tarik, as 
well as Mughaith Arrumj, having reached Damascus before their su- 
perior, had, by their complaints of the latter, and the accusations they 
alleged of his rapacity and injustice, augmented the sovereign's re- 
sentment towards him. For Miisa had made Mughaith, who took 
Cordova, his enemy, by demanding of the latter, and taking from him 
by force, the captive governor of that city, whom Mughaith wished to 
present himself to the Khalif : and this affair became a matter of accu- 
sation against him. On being questioned, too, before the Khalif re- 
specting the famous table named after Solomon, Miisa asserted that 
the prize was originally made by him, and that Tarik had never beheld 
it except in his possession : the latter then requested the Khalif to ask 
Miisa for the leg which had been broken off ; and on Musa's saying 
that the deficiency existed when he first acquired it, Tarik produced 
from under his dress the very foot, and convinced the Khalif that the 
table had been in his hands first, and that Musa's evidence was incor- 
rect. Musa's enemies, moreover, accused him of concealing a jewel, 
more valuable than any that had been seen since the conquest of Persia. 
By others it is reported, that when Miisa returned from Africa to Syria, 
WalTd was so indisposed, that he was not expected to live long ; and 
Sulaiman, the heir apparent, wrote to Miisa, requesting him to delay his 
entry into Damascus till his coming to the throne ; that the vast trophies 
and spoils of the conqueror might grace his inauguration : Miisa, how- 
ever, from motives of fidelity to his sovereign, refused his assent, and 
incurred the hatred of Sulaiman ; who caused him ignominiously to 
remain standing in the sun till near perishing ; cast him into prison ; im- 
posed on him a fine of two hundred thousand pieces of gold, which the 
sufferer was unable to pay ; caused his son Abdulaziz to be murdered in 
Spain ; and was with difficulty prevailed on to spare his life, after de- 
priving him of all the wealth which he had acquired. So completely, 
indeed, was this great and fortunate commander, who had conquered 
Africa and Spain, and fixed his three sons Abdullah, Abdulmalik, and 
Abdulaziz, in the government of those regions, stripped of every thing, 
that he was led about to the different tribes of the Arabs as a beggar, 
to solicit from their charity the bare means of subsistence : and, after 



74 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



beholding the head of his son Abdulazlz, whom he left in Spain, thrown 
before him by the command of his revengeful and unfeeling sovereign, 
he died, deserted by all, through grief and absolute want, in the year 
97, at his native place, Wadilkura, in Hijaz. 

The sons of Witiza, Roderic's predecessor on the Gothic throne, are 
said by some Arabic authors to have been three ; and that the estates 
of their father, which they divided amongst them, descended to their 
posterity. The eldest is reported to have fixed his residence at Seville ; 
the second at Cordova ; and the third at Toledo. 

On Musa's departure from Spain, in the month Dhulhijja of the year 
95, he appointed his son, Abdulaziz, governor of the country. Though 
a good and learned man, under whom many places were subdued, he 
was murdered by the army, after a government of two years. His 
death is ascribed by some to the instigations of the Khalif Sulaiman ; 
who, not satisfied with ruining the father, pursued the son with deadly 
animosity also : others, however, attribute this event to Abdulaziz's 
unfortunate marriage with Roderic's widow, * of whom he became 
enamoured. She, perceiving her influence over him, asked him why 
his subjects did not bow down to him, as they had done to her husband 
Roderic : he replied that such practices were contrary to their religion ; 
but, as she was not satisfied with this answer, he was led by his attach- 
ment to her to imagine, that the want of such a ceremony diminished 
her regard for him : he therefore caused a low door to be erected in 
front of the room where he sat, so that all must bend themselves in 
passing through it ; and he informed her that this ceremony was per- 
formed by them out of their reverence to him ; with which intelligence 
she was content. This matter, however, was rumoured among the mili- 
tary : and the abhorrence it occasioned, together with the intimations 
given them on the part of the Khalif, induced them to murder him,f 
after he had ruled two years. 

* Egilona ; by whose persuasion, according to Cardonne, he caused himself to be proclaimed 
king, and she placed a crown on his head ; in consequence of which the Arabs murdered him : 
but whence is this information derived by that author ? 

f Towards the end of the year 97, or about August A. C. 716. Cardonne, however, makes it 
two years later. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN 



75 



To Abdulaziz succeeded Aiyubu-bn Habib Allakhamy, son of Musa's 
sister : but, at the expiration of six months from his assumption of the 
government, he was removed by Alhurru-bn Abdirrahman* Aththakafy, 
whom Muhammadu-bn Yazld, governor of Africa, appointed. 

Alhurr ruled two years and eight months ; when he was succeeded, 
at the commencement of the year 100, by Assamhu-bn Malik Alkhau- 
lany ; who, in obedience to the commands of the Khalif Omaru-bn 
Abdilazlz, by whom he was commissioned, levied a tribute of one-fifth 
on the country. Assamh, moreover, built the bridge of Cordova: and, 
in the year 102, f he died the death of a martyr, carrying on war in 
France. 

The people of Spain then appointed over themselves Abdurrahmanu- 
bn Abdillah Alghafaky,$ till the arrival of Ambasatu-bn SahTm Alkalby 
from before Yazid, governor of Africa ; which happened in the month 
Safar, of the year 103. § He restored order in the state, and carried his 
arms far into the land of France ; where he fell a martyr, fighting for 
the faith, in the year 107, f after a government of four years and four 
months. At his death, the people of Spain applied to Basharu-bn 
Safwan, governor of Africa, for a successor ; and he sent, about the end 
of the year 107, Yahya-bn Salamat Alkalby, who ruled two years and 
a half, without making any conquests : some authors, however, mention 
Azratu-bn Abdillah Alfahry, as preceding Yahya ; and it seems likely 
that he might hold the government during the interval between the 
death of Ambasat, and the arrival of Yahya from Africa. 

To Yahya succeeded Othmanu-bn Aby Nisaa Allakhamy, or Alkha- 
thamy, sent by Ubaida, governor of Africa ; but at the end of five 

* In the year 100 of the Hijra, or 713 of Christ, according to Cardonne ; but his chronology 
does not agree with that of this author, as will be discovered by the succession of Assamh, here 
given. According to Cardonne, Assamh fell in the battle, which he calls, of Belat, at Toulouse, 
in. 104 of the Hijra, or 722 of Christ. 

f 720 or 721 of Christ. 

X Cardonne ascribes the appointment of Abdurrrahman to the Khalif, which seems much less 
likely than as here described. 
§ About August A. C. 721. 

^ A. C. 725; and this date coincides with that given by Ciirdonne. 



76 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



months, the same Ubaida removed Othman by appointing HadhTfatu- 
bnu-lakhwas Alkaisy, who arrived in the year 110;* it seems, however 
uncertain whether Othman preceded or followed Hadhlfa ; but the 
latter, after governing nearly one year, was displaced by Alhithamu-bn 
Ubaid Alkilaby, whom the same Ubaida commissioned. This governor, 
who arrived in the month Muharram of the year lll,f invaded and 
subdued the land of Makusha : % but dying in 113, after having ruled 
two years, he was succeeded by Muhammadu-bn Abdillah Alashjai, 
who governed only two months. Next followed, in 113,§ Abdurrah- 
manu-bn Abdillah Alghafaky, appointed by Ubaidullah, governor of 
Africa. After assuming the government, Abdurrahman invaded France, 
and gained several battles there, till in Ramazan of the year 114,^[ his 
army was destroyed, and he himself slain in the famous battle of Tours, 
called by the Mahometans Balatu-sh Shuhada.|| He ruled one year and 
eight months ; and was succeeded by Abdulmaliku-bn Kutan Alfahry, 
who entered on the government in the month Ramazan of the year 114,** 
and ruled two years ; or, according to Alwakidy, four years ; but he 
was unjust and tyrannical in his conduct. He carried on war against 
the Bascons in the year 115, and was prosperous: but in the month of 
Ramazan of the year 116, he was removed from the government, and 
succeeded by Akabatu-bn Hajaj Assaluly, whom the aforementioned 
governor of Africa appointed, and who ruled five years with great renown 
for the justice of his sway and the success of his arms. Under him, the 
Moslems regained possession of Narbonne, and extended their dominion 
to the river Rhone ; but in the year 121 ft his predecessor, Abdulmalik, 

* 728 of Christ. § 731 of Christ. 

f About April 729 of Christ. f October or November 732 of Christ. 

I Is this any, and what, part of Spain ? 

|| Balatu-sh Shu!,ada, Palace of the Martyrs : but Cardonne has erroneously given the first part 
of this name to the battle, in which Assamh fell, as he says, near Toulouse ; and this same author, 
in a note, given under pretext of affording information relative, to the decisive battle of Tours, has 
unwittingly inserted a translation of the King of the Franks attack on the Arabian army, posted 
on the hills near Narbonne, during the government of Musa; which has been here already related 
in due order, and perhaps with more accuracy. 

** November 732 of Christ. ft 739 of Christ. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



77 



deprived him by force of the government, and either killed him or forced 
him to quit the country. 

In this state of things, Abdulmalik reassumed to himself the rule of 
Spain, and retained it till the year 124,* when Balaju-bn Bashar 
Alkushairy arrived, with an army of Syrians : and after killing 
Abdulmalik, he governed for the space of one year nearly. 

Arrazy, however, differing from the account above given, says, that 
the people rose against Akabat in the month Safar, of the year 123, 
when they made Abdulmalik governor a second time : and, in the same 
month, Akabat died at Carcassone, having ruled six years and four 
months. Whilst Abdulmalik was in the possession of the government, 
Balaju-bn Bashar arrived with the army of Syrians who had escaped 
from the battle of Kulthumu-bn Iyaz| against the Barbars ; and having 
attacked Abdulmalik, who was then in his seventieth year, he slew 
him and seized the government. But the tribe to which the deceased 
belonged, being joined by many who disapproved of the murder, set 
the authority which Balaj had thus acquired at defiance ; and, headed 
by Abdulmalik's sons and relatives, they encountered the usurper in 
battle. On this occasion, though Balaj was victorious, yet he died of 
the wounds he then received, in the year 124, after he had ruled nearly 
one year. 

On the decease of Balaj, Thaalabatu-bn Salamat Aljudhamy or 
Alaamily, seized the government of Spain, and ruled with justice two 
years; though the tribe of Fahr refused to submit to him ; and after the ten 
first months of his administration, civil commotions sprung up from the 
very connexions he formed to ennoble his family. When Abu-1 Khatar 
Husam Alkalby, however, arrived as governor from before Safwanu-bn 
Hanzala, regent of Africa, in the year 125,$ the people of Spain sub- 
mitted to him ; and Thaalabat, with other powerful men of the coun- 
try, going to meet him, were treated kindly by him, and his authority 

* 741 or 742 of Christ, 

f Cardonne calls this the battle of Abdullah ubn Hajab: see page 163 of his " Histoire de 
l'Afrique et de l'Espagne." 
+ 742 or 743 of Christ. 



78 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



became fully established. To him people flocked from Syria in such 
numbers, that Cordova could not longer contain them : he, therefore, 
settled the people of Damascus at AlbTra (Granada), on account of its 
resemblance to that city, and named it Damascus : the people of Emessa 
he in like manner placed at Seville, and named it Emessa : the people 
from Kinisrin, at Jaen, and called it after their native place: the people 
of Palestine, at Xeres, which he named Palestine : the people from 
Misr at Tadmir,* which likewise took the appellation of Misr : and the 
people of Jordan at Malaga, which he named Urdan (Jordan). But, 
as Abulkhatar was descended from a family of Yemen, he shewed 
great partiality to the people of that country ; and having on some 
occasion issued an order against SamTl, chief of the family ofKais, and 
a powerful man of the Muzarites, t his party collected together in his 
defence, and deposed Abulkhatar, in the year 128, after he had ruled 
four years and nine months. 

Thawabatu-bn Salamat Aljudhamy then took the government; and, 
being confirmed in it by the regent of Africa, he put in order the 
affairs of Spain : but the two factions conspired against him and killed 
him in the first year of his administration. 

At this time civil war raged in Africa, and the authority of the house 
of Ummaiya was on the point of expiring in the east ; when the 
people of Spain were left without a ruler : but they first entrusted the 
direction of affairs to Abdurrahmani-bn Kathir: then the army agreed 
on dividing the government between the Muzarites and the Yemenians ; 
so that the two factions should each appoint the ruler annually by 
turns In conformity with this arrangement, the Muzarites chose 
Yusufu-bn Abdirrahman Alfahry for governor the first year : but when 
at the close of the year, the Yemenians sought to exercise their pri- 
vilege, according to the agreement, the opposite part, with Samil, 

* Murcia. 

t The grand division of the Arabs, which was constanly in opposition to the people of Yemen : 
the first claim their descent from Muzar, son of Nizar, son ofMaadd, son of Adrian, a descendant 
of Ismael, and their ensign is of a red colour; whilst the Yemenians deduce their origin from 
Kahtan, or Joctan of the English Bible, son of Eber, and the colour of their ensigns is yellow. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



79 



opposed them ; and having defeated their leader, Abulkhatar, Samil 
slew him in the year 129, and Yiisuf became absolute in the go- 
vernment. He then appointed Samil to the government of Saragossa ; 
but, on the latter's proceeding there, he was opposed by Hubaba-z 
Zahry, who had come to Spain in support of the cause of the Abbas- 
sides ; and, as Yusuf could not afford him the assistance he required to 
establish his authority in that city, he quitted it, and was fixed in the 
government of Toledo, which he held till the arrival of Abdurrahma- 
ni-d Dakhil, founder of the dynasty of Ummaiya in Spain. 

During these transactions, the dispersed remnant of the Christians 
began first to collect under Pelagius of Asturias ; who, being settled at 
Cordova as a hostage for the chief man of his country, fled from that 
city, whilst Alhurru-bn Abdirrahman ruled, in the year 98 of the Hijra ; 
and, having put himself at the head of his countrymen, he expelled 
the Arabian governors, and assumed the sovereignty of that territory. 
According to the historian Razy, however, Pelagius began to shew 
himself during the government of Ambasat. Through the conflict 
which the Christians, headed by him and by his successors, maintained 
in Spain, the Franks* were enabled to ward off the Mahometans from 
the rest of Europe, when they had actually begun to despair of doing 
so ; though, on the subjugation of the land to Arlesf in France, and 
the taking of the city of Pamplona, in Gallicia, by the Moslems, 
nothing remained to Pelagius but the rock in which he had taken re- 
fuge, together with three hundred followers. Against this body, the 
Moslems ceased not contending, till all the individuals composing it 
had died of hunger, except thirty men and ten women ; for such was the 
distressed state of the besieged, that they had nothing to subsist on 
but the honey which they gathered in the crevices of the rocks. 

Through fatigue and contempt, their opponents at length quitted 
the pursuit of them, saying to themselves " as to these thirty barba- 
rians, what can come of them ?" yet their force and number afterwards 
became such as could not be concealed. Pelagius reigned nineteen 



Europeans generally. 



f Or perhaps Narbonne is intended by the Arabic word. 



80 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



years ; and dying in 133 (of the Hijra)* was succeeded by his son 
Favila, who reigned two years only. The kingdom then devolved to 
Alfonso, son of Pedro, ancestor of the family whose sway continues 
to this time. 

* This date seems incorrect, as it is before said that Pelagius began to exercise his authority 
in the year 98, and that he reigned nineteen years : whence it is most likely that he died in 1 17 
of the Hijra, or 735 of Christ, as Cardonne has recorded. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



81 



CHAPTER III. 

THE REIGNS OF THE INDEPENDENT SOVEREIGNS OF THE HOUSE OF 
UMMAIYA, IN SPAIN, TILL THE EXTINCTION OF THAT DYNASTY. 



Abdurrahman I. enters Spain, and is acknoivledged Sovereign — Alliances be- 
tween him and Charlemagne — Abdurrahman defeats the efforts of Almansur — 
Accession of Hisham to the Khilafat of Cordova — His wise administration 
— Public edifices erected by him — He is succeeded by Alhakam — His reign 
disturbed by intestine commotions — Description of his person and character — 
Reign of Abdurrahman II. — His victories over the Christians — Predatory in- 
cursions of the Normans in Spain — Character of Abdurrahman II. — Anecdote 
of his gallantry — Accession of Muhammad — The Normans defeated — Reign 
of Abdurrahman III. — His battles with the Christians — He is defeated at the 
battle of Zamora — Splendid reception of an Ambassador from the Greek Court 
of Constantinople — Peace with the Christians — Splendid present made to him 
by one of his Vizirs — Accession of Alhakam II. — Successes against the Gallicians 
— The Normans expelled from Spain — Extent of his dominions — Hisham II. — 
Hispoicer usurped by the Vizir Ibn Abi Admir, who dethrones him — Subsequent 
proceedings of Almansur — His death — Hisham II. restored, dethroned, and put 
to death — Accession of Almuhdy — Conspiracy against him — His death — Dis- 
putes concerning the succession — The government usurped by Aliyu~bn Hamud — 
and by Almamun — Death of Almamun. 

On the subversion of the house of Umrnaiya, in Asia, Abdurrahman, 
son of Muavia, son of Hisham, son of Abdulmalik, son of Marwan, 
escaped to Africa, and retired to a part of Barbary, in the district of 
Tripoly : but, learning that Abdurrahmani-bn Hablb, governor of 
Africa, who had slain his two relatives, the sons of Alwalid, was 

M 



82 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



informed of bis residence, he quitted that retreat, and settled at Maklla, 
where he obtained the protection of the Zanata tribe of Barbars : thence 
he removed to Melilla, and dispatched his servant, Badr, to the adhe- 
rents of his family in Spain, to engage them in his interest. On Badr's 
arrival among them, they began to publish the pretensions of Abdur- 
rahman to the throne, and to celebrate his fame : and, at the approach 
of the latter, the rival factions of Muzar and Yemen desisted from 
their contentions ; but the Yemenians especially exulted in the pros- 
pect of his sway, on account of the treatment they had experienced 
from Yusuf, and his coadjutor, SamTT. With this intelligence of the 
favourable disposition of the people in Spain, Badrthen returned to his 
master, who passed the straits in 138* of the Hijra, and landed on the 
coast of Almavikab ;f where he was joined by people from Seville, who 
gave their allegiance to him. No sooner, however, had accounts of 
Abdurrahman's entering the country reached Yusuf, who was at that 
time carrying on war in the Gallicias, than he hastened back to Cor- 
dova: but, in his conduct on this occasion, Yusuf rejected the counsel 
of his minister, Samil ; who advised him to treat Abdurrahman with 
kindness and respect, on account of his youth and rare disposition. 

Departing from Almankab, Abdurrahman repaired to Malaga ; the 
military in which place acknowledged him for their sovereign : thence 
he proceeded to Honda, Xeres, and Seville, the troops of the cities 
flocking to him, and even many of the Muzarites ; so that none conti- 
nued to adhere to Yusuf, except the Fahrites and the Kaisites,^ who 
were retained by the influence of Samil. Such being the state of things, 
Abdurrahman marched against his adversaries, and a battle took place 
without the city of Cordova, in which Yusuf was defeated. The latter 
then fled to Granada, and fortified himself there : but Abdurrahman pur- 
sued him, and laid siege to that city, whenl^usuf offered to capitulate, 
and peace being granted him on condition that he should reside at 

* A. C. 755 or 756. f Now called " Almunezar," and it is in the kingdom of Granada. 
X Two families of the Muzarite division of Arabs. Yusuf being of the first, and Samil of the 
latter. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



83 



Cordova only, Abdurrahman conducted him back thither. In the 
year 141,* however, Yusuf infringed the treaty, by fleeing from Cor- 
dova to Toledo, where he was joined by about twenty thousand men of 
the JBarbars : and Abdurrahman sent against him Abdulmaliki-1 Mar- 
wany, who defeated Yiisuf in battle. Having now no place of retreat, 
some of his discontented followers seized him in the district of Toledo, 
cut off his head, and conveyed it to Abdurrahman ; whose authority 
became fully established at this event. 

The seat of Abdurrahman's government was Cordova, which he sur- 
rounded with a wall : he also erected a palace, and began the building 
of the great mosque, but died before this was completed, though he 
founded and finished many others. At the commencement of his reign, 
the people acknowledged Almansiir, of the house of Alabbas, as Kha- 
lif ; Abdurrahman, however, abolished this practice, and not only 
founded a great kingdom for the sons of Marwan,t but restored in 
Spain the honours of the Khilafat, which they had lost in the east. He 
was surnamed Addakhil, (the enterer), because he was the first prince of 
the house of Ummaiya who entered Spain ; and the Khalif Almansur, 
his contemporary, called him the hawk of the Coraish," on account of 
the ability he displayed in surmounting difficulties on his passage to 
that country from Asia, and of the celerity with which he made him- 
self master of it, though destitute of followers at his arrival. Neither 
he, however, nor his successors, assumed any title but that of Emir, out 
of respect to the Khalif, who resided at the mansion of Islamism,J and 
the consistory of the Arabs, X till Abdurrahman Anuasir, the eighth so- 
vereign of his family in Spain, perceiving how little power the Khalifs 
of the house of Alabbas really possessed after the third century of the 
Hijra, claimed the supreme dignity of Amiru-1 Muminin,§ which was 
continued to his posterity. 

* A.C. 758 or 759. 

f An eminent ancestor of Abdurrahman, as before-mentioned : and this phrase is used to de- 
signate the royal family, descended from him in Spain. J Metonymies of Baghdad. 
§ " Commander, or Chief of the faithful being the peculiar appellation of the Khalif. 



84 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



But, whilst Abdurrahman was contending for the empire in Spain, 
and settling the government, Fruela, son of Alfonsus, seized the oppor- 
tunity occasioned by the distraction of the Musalman forces, to extend 
his kingdom of Gallicia, and to repel the Moslems from the frontiers: 
so that he made himself master of Lugo, Oporto, Zamora, Cashtala, 
and Shafunia,* which remained in possession of the Gallicians, till 
Almansuru-bn Aby Aamir reconquered them towards the close of this 
dynasty. 

Abdurrahman, and Charles, King of the Franks, one of the most 
powerful sovereigns of his age, after they had tried each others prowess 
in war, sought to form an alliance by marriage ; but the former having 
met with an accident on the loins, which injured his virility, that de- 
sign was abandoned : Charles, however, courted his friendship, and 
pressed the alliance ; and, though the latter was declined, peace was 
established between thef two sovereigns. 

So great indeed was the renown acquired by this Prince, that not 
only was his friendship courted by Charles, but his greater rival, the 
Khalif Almansiir, would frequently speak of him with admiration, re- 
late his achievements, and extol his sagacity and prudence. Com- 
paring Abdurrahman with himself, he would remark that his own 
power, extensive as it truly was, being founded on fortuitous circum- 
stances, and established by time, was not so much to be wondered at, 
as the dominion which Abdurrahman had of himself acquired, when 
deprived of friends, and destitute of assistance : and he hesitated 
not to allow him the superiority. Of these two great contemporaries 
and rivals, Ibn Haiyan has recorded many striking coincidences ; and 
among the rest, he observes, that both their mothers were of the same 
country, namely, of Barbary. 

* What places do these two last names indicate ? The first seems to denote Castille ; but the 
latter is still more obscure, unless it means Segovia. 

f In the original, however, it is somewhat doubtful which of the two Princes is here intended 
as being thus disabled : but it seems to have been Abdurrahman who declined the marriage ; 
whence it appears most likely, that he was the person injured as above described. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



85 



In the year 146* of the Hijra, came Alala-bn Mughaith from Africa 
to Spain, with the design of bringing over the people to acknowledge 
the supremacy of Almansiir ; and many joined him at Beja, where he 
fixed his abode : but Abdurrahman inarched against him ; and having 
met him in the territory of Seville, he fought him several days, till 
Alala fell, with seven thousand of his followers. The heads of many 
of the slain in this battle, Abdurrahman caused to be conveyed to 
Kairuan and Mecca ; and to be privately cast into the streets of those 
cities, together with the standards of the house of Alabbas, and the 
commission Almansiir had given to Alala. This contrivance terrified 
Almansiir so much, that he exclaimed, " This fellow is the Devil 
" himself ; thanks to God for having placed a sea between us and 
" him !"t 

Abdurrahman is described as of a florid complexion (or having reddish 
hair), being thin-cheeked, with a mole in his face, tall and slender in 
body, one-eyed, and destitute of the sense of smelling. From the 
chiefs of the Arabs in Spain, he had at various times much opposition ; 
so that towards the end of his reign, having lost his confidence on 
them, he sought the aid of others, by peculiar attention and favour. 
When, however, he had secured himself against internal enemies, he 
made war in the land of the Franks, the Bascons, and those beyond 
them ; from which expedition he returned victorious. He had de- 
signed, moreover, to re-establish the dominion of the family of Marwan 
in the east : but he died, without attaining this object, in the year 
172, X or, as some relate, in 171, after a reign of thirty-three years 
and four months ; his birth having happened in 113, and his entrance 
into Spain in 183. The children he left, were twenty males and nine 
females. 

On the decease of Abdurrahman, his son Hisham succeeded to the 
throne, agreeably to the will of the father, who preferred him to 
Sulaiman, on account of his better qualifications for the duties of a 
sovereign. When the empire devolved to Hisham, however, he was 



* A. C. 763 or 764. 



f This account differs much from Cardonne. % A. C. 788. 



86 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



at Merida, of which city he was then governor ; his father having, 
in early youth, accustomed hiin to rule and to engage in the affairs of 
state.* 

At the commencement of his reign, he sent for a famous astrologer, 
who lived at Algesiras: and, having consulted with him as to the du- 
ration of his sway, the man hesitated to reply, and required some 
time to adjust his answer. But, being again summoned in a few days, 
Hisham asked him with much earnestness, to be explicit, and to open 
his mind freely : the man then said, " Thy reign shall be glorious and 
" fortunate in thy triumphs over all thy enemies; its duration, how- 
" ever, will be eight years, or nearly so." After reflecting a little, he 
replied, " This does not alarm me, though it may be the unerring ad- 
" monisher who informs me by thy tongue : were this remaining por- 
" tion of life to be spent in the adoration of the Almighty, I would 
" say, Obedience to Him." He then rewarded the astrologer: and, ab- 
staining from the pleasures of the world, he made righteousness the 
object of all his future actions. 

Like the Khalif, Omaru-bn Abdilaziz, Hisham adopted the expe- 
dient of sending those who possessed his confidence into the provinces, 
to enquire into the conduct of his governors : and if an act of injustice 
was discovered to have been committed by any one, he would deprive 
him of his office, oblige him to make due atonement, and for ever after- 
wards exclude him from his service. 

In the days of this Prince, Narbonne was again subdued, and the 
confederates of the Gallicians were forced to accept hard conditions of 
peace ; by one of which they were obliged to convey many loads of 
earth from the walls of Narbonne to the gate of Hisham's palace in 
Cordova. This earth was intended to be used in building the mosque 
before the gate of the gardens ; so much, however, was brought, that 
after the completion of that edifice, a great quantity remained undis- 
posed of. 

* This account is very different from what Mariana relates ; as may be seen by adverting to 
the 7th chapter of the 7th book of his history. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



87 



But, pious and just as Hisham was, he met with enemies, even in his 
own house ; and he was obliged to appeal to arms in the contest with 
them, as well as with others. Having, however, succeeded in quelling 
those domestic and internal commotions, he delayed not himself taking 
the field against the unbelievers, whom he met and defeated. In the 
year 175,* moreover, he sent Yusufu-bn Nujaba with an army into 
Gallicia ; who defeated king Bomond,f and did much injury to the 
enemy: and the next year he dispatched his Vizir, Abdulmalik, son of 
Abdulwahld, on the same service ; who attacked the forts of the infidel, 
and wasted his territories. The following year, too, he sent his Vizir 
against Narbonne and Girona : which he subdued ; wasted the land of 
Cerdagne, and penetrated far into the country of the infidels. In the 
year 178, | he dispatched Abdulkarim, son of Abdulwahld, against Leon 
and the Castles ; he commissioned the same, also, together with his 
brother Abdulmalik, against Gallicia ; and having reached Astorga, the 
king of Gallicia, aided by that of Biscay, made head against him ; but 
not daring to come to an engagement, he retreated, and Abdulmalik 
pursued him far into the country. Hisham, moreover, expedited forces 
by another route ; which joined those under Abdulmalik : and, whilst 
they were wasting and subduing the land, they were opposed by the 
armies of France ; from which they made some captives, and returned 
victorious. 

Among the beneficial actions of Hisham may be numbered his re- 
newal of the celebrated bridge at Cordova, which Assamh had raised : 
this he restored throughout ; and happening on a certain day to ask 
one of his ministers what the people of Cordova said relative to that 
performance ; he replied, " they say the prince's motive for this is only 
" that he may pass over it to the chase ; " on hearing which, Hisham 
bound himself by an oath never to ascend it again ; and he scrupu- 
lously observed his engagement. After a reign of seven years and nine 
months, though some say of eight years, he died in 180, § aged forty 



* A.C. 791 or 792. 

f By Mariana called " Bermudo." 



% A.C. 794 or 795. 
§ A. C. 796 or 797. 



88 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



years and four months ; * and he is numbered among the good and 
righteous, abundant in warlike enterprise, for the promotion of the 
faith. To him must, also, be attributed the merit of completing the 
great mosque of Cordova, which his father began. 

In conformity with Hisham's will, his son Alhakam succeeded him. 
He encreased the number of the royal train, put his troops in due order 
for war, made his empire strong, and himself attended to the affairs of 
state. In consequence, however, of the civil wars which took place 
between him and his two uncles, the enemy found an opportunity to 
invade the realm of the Moslems ; so that in the year 185 f he made 
himself master of the territory of Barcelona, the forces of the Moslems 
withdrawing themselves from it. Alhakam, however, dispatched an 
army to Gallicia, under the command of his Hajib,J Abdulkarim ; who 
carried the war far into that country ; and, returning upon the enemy, 
who had collected at the passes in his rear, he defeated them, and vic- 
toriously forced his way back to the territories of the Moslems. 

But Alhakam had internal as well as foreign enemies to contend 
with. Being at the commencement of his reign much addicted to plea- 
sure, some people most eminent for learning and piety conspired against 
him ; and having by force removed him from the government, they 
inaugurated one of his kindred as sovereign in his stead. During this 
commotion, the exciters of it resided in the western suburb of Cordova; 
the buildings of which adjoined his castle: thus situated, he fought 
and overcame them : when the insurgents betook themselves, some to 
Fez, and others to Alexandria. Those who fled to the latter place, 
being a considerable body, stirred up disorder in that city ; in conse- 
sequence of which, Abdullah, son of Tahir, governor of Egypt on the 
part of the Khalif Almamun, attacked them : and, having defeated 
them, he transported them to the isle of Crete ; where they remained 
till the Franks, after a length of time, dispossessed them of it. Besides 
this very remarkable civil war in the metropolis, Alhakam's reign was 

* That is, lunar years according to the computation of the Arabs ; as he was born in the month 
Shavwal of the year 137- 
-j- A. C. 801. J Prime minister, mayor of the palace, or commander in chief. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



89 



disturbed by rebellion of the people at Toledo, as well as at other 
places. 

In the year 192,* Roderic, son of Charles, King of the Franks, col- 
lected his forces and advanced to the siege of Tarazona ; f but Alhakam 
sent against him his son, Abdurrahman, by whom the Franks were de- 
feated, and obliged to retreat. In consequence, however, of the incur- 
sions which the Franks made on the frontiers, whilst Alhakam was 
engaged with his rebellious subjects, he himself led his armies against 
them, in the year 196 ; when he subdued the frontier towns and fort- 
resses, desolated the provinces of his enemies, and afflicted them grie- 
vously with slaughter, captivity, and plunder. Four years after this 
last mentioned expedition, he dispatched his forces, under the command 
of AbdulkarTm, to the territory of the Franks ; in which that leader 
spoiled the country to a considerable extent, and razed a number of 
fortresses. Whilst on this service, A lonso, King of the Gallicians, came 
against the Moslems with a vast army ; and the two contending powers 
happening to meet at a river, the fight was continued between them 
for thirteen days, in which the Moslems gained great advantages ; but, 
owing to the rains which fell, the river overflowed so much, that the 
Moslems, though victorious, were at last obliged to abandon the field 
of battle. 

In short, Alhakam was the first who organised his armies, and rightly 
equipped them for war. Of all the house of Ummaiya in Spain, he 
was the most determined, and the foremost in valour and military 
achievements ; resembling his contemporary Abu Jaafaru-1 Mansur of 
the rival house of Alabbas, in energy of government, absoluteness of 
sway, and subjection of enemies. 

Ibn Khaldun, and other historians, relate that under Alhakam, the 
practice of allotting regular pay to the troops commenced. That 
prince, too, formed magazines of arms and provisions ; increased the 
number of servants and attendants at court ; kept a guard of horse 
at his gate, of which two thousand were constantly stationed on the 
bank of the river, opposite to the palace, in two houses built for their 

* A. C. 807 or 808. f Cardonne says Tortosa, which may be the place intended ; or, even 
Tarragona. 

N 



90 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



reception ; employed slaves* to the number of five thousand, of which 
three thousand were horsemen, as his body guards ; and, generally, he 
adopted such measures as first gave splendour to the empire of Spain. 
This prince, moreover, with his own eyes surveyed the affairs of men ; 
and with his own hands he conducted the reins of government : the 
society of the wise and good he courted ; and he it was who subjected 
the empire in Spain to the tread of his own foot. 

Ibn Hazm says that he was tyrannical and a shedder of blood, till 
the pious and the learned set their faces against him ; when he repented 
of his past errors, and desisted from such conduct in future. He is, 
moreover, accused of seizing male children and causing them to be cas- 
trated : but, if this accusation is really well founded, perhaps he might 
have repented of that practice as well as of his other cruelties. 

In the year 197 f a severe famine prevailed ; which Alhakam alle- 
viated much by the assistance he imparted to the distressed. 

This sovereign was tall of stature, thin, of a dark complexion, and his 
nose was aquiline. His children were twenty males and twenty females. 
The impression of his seal was, " In God trusts Alhakam, and is secure." 
This prince died about the end of the year 206, in the 27th year of his 
reign. 

Of this prince it is related that the poet Alabbas, on travelling to the 
frontiers, happened to stop at Guadalaxara, where he heard a woman 
crying out, e< I require assistance of thee, Alhakam ; thou hast neglected 
<e us till we are overcome by the dog of the enemy, who has deprived 
" us of both husband and children ! " Finding her to be a well-bred 
woman, and being affected with her history and misfortunes, he alluded 
to her case in an ode, which he recited, on his return, to the sovereign ; 
and mentioned the appeal of the woman for help. Alhakam imme- 
diately issued orders to prepare for war ; and, after three days, having 

* Or Mamaluks ; these being of the same name and applied to the same service, apparently, 
as the foreigners who were bought by the Sultans of Egypt, and known by this Arabic appellation 
among Europeans. But Alhakam called these troops " the mutes," because they were incapable 
of uttering the Arabic language with propriety. 

t A.C. 812 or 813. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



91 



set out for Guadalaxara, taking the poet with him, he first enquired 
from what quarter the enemies, forming the irruption complained of, 
had come ; he then invaded that country ; and, having rescued the 
woman from captivity, he slew in her presence all whom he had made 
prisoners ; and then asked her, if Alhakam, though distant, was ap- 
pealed to in vain ! 

Conformable to the will of Alhakam, his son Abdurrahman succeeded 
him in the government. And, at the commencement of his reign, the 
latter carried war into Gallicia ; where he made a considerable stay, 
and penetrated far into the country. 

In the year 206 * came, from Irak to Spain, Zaryab the musician, 
servant of the Khalif Almuhdi, and preceptor of IbrahTmu-1 Mausaly. 
Ibn Khaldiin mentions that Abdurrahman rode forth himself to honour 
and welcome this man on his arrival ; who left the science of music as 
an inheritance to his posterity in Spain : and, at his decease, the eldest 
of his sons succeeded to the profession and appointment of the father. 

In the year 208 f Abdurrahman dispatched an army under the com- 
mand of his minister, Abdulkarim, against Ilia $ and the Castles ; in 
which expedition the country was much wasted, and the fortresses were 
subdued ; so that several of them made peace on condition of paying 
tribute, and releasing the captive Moslems. Again, in the year 224,§ 
he commissioned his relative, Ubaidullah, to lead an army to the same 
quarter ; who met the enemy, vanquished him, and killed and took 
captive many of his people. Roderic, King of Gallicia, however, ad- 
vanced to Medina Celi on the frontiers; but Fartunu-bn Musa 
opposed and defeated him with great loss : Fartun then proceeded 
against the fortress, which the people of Ilia had built on the frontiers, 
to annoy the Moslems ; and this he took and razed. Afterwards, Ab- 
durrahman himself conducted his forces into Gallicia ; where he sub- 
dued many fortresses ; and, after a long campaign, returned victorious 
with his prisoners and booty. 

* Which began about the 7th June, A. C. 821. f A. C. 823 or 824. 

I This seems intended for Leon ; unless it is the place called Alveda by Cardonne. 
§ A. C. 839. 



92 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



In the year 226,* this prince sent Musa-bn Miisa, at the head of an 
army, to the land of the Franks : and on their arrival at the territory 
of Sartania,t they encountered the enemy; when, after an obstinate 
contest, it pleased the Almighty to rout the foe ; and Miisa gained 
much renown in the campaign. Three years afterwards, Abdurrahman 
dispatched an army under the command of his son Muhammad ; who 
advanced to Pamplona, fought with the trinitarians there, and slew 
Garcias, Ihe sovereign, one of the greatest of the Christian princes. 

About this time, the Majus (Normans) appeared on the coast of Spain, 
and entered Seville: when, Abdurrahman expedited forces against them 
from Cordova : and, the Normans having disembarked, a hard contested 
battle took place, in which the Moslems were put to flight ; but the 
army of the latter having obtained reinforcements from Cordova, the 
invaders ventured another battle, in which they were beaten and some 
of their ships were taken and burnt. They then departed to Shadhuna,J 
where they remained two days and collected some plunder : but, as the 
fleets of the Moslems had now reached Seville, they directed their course 
to Ilipula,§ thence to Beja, and lastly, to Lisbon ; at which place they 
re-embarked, and quitted the country. This descent of the Normans, 
and their departure, took place in the year 230 : % and Abdurrahman, 
afterwards, visited the places they had entered, to repair the devastation 
occasioned, and to secure the country against their future incursions. 

In the following year he again sent his forces into Gallicia ; when 
they laid siege to the city of Leon, and battered its walls with engines 
of war, till the people having fled from it, the Moslems entered, plun- 
dered, and burned it. They then attempted to demolish its walls ; 
but, on account of the solidity of their structure, being seventeen cubits 
thick, this design was found to be impracticable s they did not, how- 
ever, depart till they had effected a breach in them. After this, Ab- 
dulkanm led an army into the territory of Barcelona, which he ravaged ; 

* 841 of Christ. f Perhaps inttnded for Cerdagne. J Said to be Xeres. 

§ Called by the Arabs Laila, Llla, or Libia : Mariana makes it, in one part of his work, Ili- 
pula, and afterwards Niebki, which seems to be the modern name of this place. 

A.C. 844 or 845. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



93 



thence he proceeded through the defiles of the Pyrennees into the land 
of France ; which he afflicted with slaughter and captivity. He, also, 
laid siege to Girona, the principal city of that part of the country, and 
returned, after wasting the territory around. 

To Abdurrahman, surnanied Alausat,* to distinguish him from his 
ancestor, Addakhil, and his descendant, Annasir, both of whom bore 
the same prenomen, the Grecian Emperor, Theophilus, sent an em- 
bassy in the year 235, f to solicit his friendship. The Greek, moreover, 
on account of the defeats he had suffered from the Khalifs Almamun 
and Almuatasam, sought to induce Abdurrahman to enter the lists 
against the house of Alabbas, from the motive of seeking to regain the 
empire of his ancestors in Asia. Assenting to his request, in part at 
least, Abdurrahman sent back to him Yahya-l-Ghazzal, one of the prin- 
cipal men of his court as well as a poet and philosopher, and he 
established an alliance between the two princes. Thus the fame of 
Abdurrahman became so great, as to place him in competition with his 
exalted rivals of the prevailing dynasty in Asia. 

After a reign of thirty-one years, this prince died in the month 
Rabi'u-1 akhir, of the year 238.$ His birth happened at Toledo, in 
176 of the Hijra. He was conversant in the doctrine and ordinances 
of religion, as well as in the sciences of philosophy ; and his days were 
those of wealth and peace. Palaces he raised, and formed delightful 
gardens, to which he conducted water from the distant mountains. 
Bridges he constructed ; and, during his reign, were erected the prin- 
cipal mosques in various districts of Spain. He, moreover, added two 
porches§ to the great mosque at Cordova. Though many of these un- 
dertakings, being incomplete at his death, were finished by his successor. 
To augment the respect of the common people for their sovereign, he 
adopted the custom of veiling his person, on all occasions, from the 
public eye ; and he established other regulations to maintain the dignity 

* " The medial," meaning the second of the three Abdurrahmans, 
f 849 or 850 of Christ. J September or October, A. C. 852. 

§ The Arabic term, here translated porches, is not well understood. It may mean some dif- 
ferent part of the edifice from what we call a porch. 



94 THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 

of the state. The number of his children was one hundred and fifty 
males, and fifty females ; and the impression of his seal was, :t The 
{C servant of the Merciful rests contented in the decrees of God. ,; * This 
motto, devised and first used by him, was also adopted and continued 
by his descendants. Under Abdurrahman, the annual revenues of the 
state amounted to one million of dinars ; though they had not, before 
him, exceeded six hundred thousand dinars. This Prince was much 
addicted to women ; but of his mistress, Tariib, he was so fond, that 
when, on account of some offence she had received from him, she long 
resisted all his entreaties to come to him, and not only barred the door 
against his chief eunuchs, whom he had sent to fetch her, but bound 
herself by oath that she would not stir in obedience to his command, 
though it were to avoid death; instead of opening her door by force and 
obliging her to comply, as his courtiers suggested, he caused the door 
place to be blocked up with bags of money ; then coming himself to the 
spot, he sought, by kind words, to reconcile her, and presented her with 
all the treasure there heaped up ; so that she at last consented to open 
the door, and return to him. At another time, too, he gave her a dress 
worth one hundred thousand dinars. His concubines, Mudathira and 
Ashshifa, he liberated and married. As to his mistress, Kalam, she was 
a scholar who wrote elegantly, recited poetry, was conversant in history, 
and acquainted with polite learning in various branches. Of all his 
enjoyments, however, that in which he took most delight, was to hear 
the works of the learned read to him. 

To Abdurrahman Alausat, his son, Muhammad, succeeded. At the 
beginning of his reign he sent forth an army under the command of 
Miisa-bn Musa, which ravaged the territories of Ilia, and the Castles, 
and took some forts. He also dispatched another army to the territory 
of Barcelona, and the country beyond that city, which it wasted, and 
the fortresses of which it subdued. But, when the people of Toledo re^ 
belled, and sought the assistance of the kings of Gallicia and Navarre, 

* The two first words in this motto allude to the Prince's own name, Abdurrahman, meaning 
" servant of the Merciful. 1 ' . 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



95 



he went against them himself : and having formed an ambush on the 
Guadacelete, into which they fell, he slew in battle of the people of 
Toledo and the trinitarians, twenty thousand persons.* 

In the year 245, t the ships of the Majiis (Normans) again appeared, 
and committed depredations on the coast of Spain; when Muhammad's 
fleet fought them, and took from them two ships, though with conside- 
rable loss in killed. 

In 247, Muhammad attacked the territory of Pamplona, when he 
conquered much of that country, subdued many forts, and took Fartun, 
the king's brother, prisoner, who remained twenty years a captive at 
Cordova. And in 251, J his brother, Almundhir, led an army against 
Ilia and the Castles; when Roderic venturing to confront the Moslems 
in battle, was defeated ; and the true believers gained an unparalleled 
victory over the polytheists In the same year, too, Muhammad him- 
self headed an expedition against Gallicia, and wasted that country. 
. In 263 § Muhammad dispatched his son, Almundhir, to the seat of 
war ; and the year following, he sent him to the territory of Pamplona, 
which he wasted. In the year 268, too, he entrusted his army to the 
same leader, who spoiled the theatre of war, and subdued the strong 
places in it. In the days of this prince, the city of Merida was smitten, 
and levelled to the ground. 

After a reign of thirty-five years, Muhammad died in the month Safar, 
of the year 273 ;% and he was born in 207. To Muhammad succeeded 
his son, Almundhir ; but his reign was short, and he died in the month 
Safar of the year 275, || two years, less by half a month, after coming to 
the throne. He was succeeded by his brother, Abdullah, who died in 
the year 300,** after a reign of near twenty-five years.ft 

* During this rebellion, Muhammad seized by surprise, and destroyed a wonderful bridge over 
the Tagus at Toledo. It consisted of one single arch, was three hundred Baa, (an Arabic mea- 
sure, apparently the same, or nearly the same, as the cubit), in length, and eighty Baa in breadth. 
Adjoining to this bridge was a water wheel, ninety cubits in height ; which raised water to the top 
of the bridge, whence it flowed into the city. t A. C. 859 or 860. % 865 of Christ. 

§ 876 or 877 of Christ. ^[ July or August, 886 of Christ. || July, 888. ** A. C. 9 J 2 or 913. 

ft It is remarkable that the author makes no mention of the acts of Abdullah, though he 



96 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



To Abdullah succeeded, in an extraordinary way, his grandson, 
Abdurrahman : for, though the latter was but a youth, and had uncles 
and great uncles present, yet they concurred in placing him on the 
throne, and in preferring his rule to that of themselves. On assuming 
the government, he found the country convulsed by intestine revolt j 
and its forces dissolving in the flames kindled by the ambitious : but 
he subdued the rebels, and completely frustrated the attempts of the 
designing. So fully did he accomplish this, that when he had attained 
to little more than twenty years of age, the people in every quarter sub- 
mitted to his sway, and he reigned over them upwards of fifty years ; in 
which period he raised the empire of the house of Ummaiya, in Spain, 
to its highest pitch. He it was, who, perceiving the reduced state of 
the Khalifs in Asia, and the domination of their servants, the Turks, 
over them (since Munis servant of Muktadir had even killed his own 
master) assumed the title of Amlru-l Muminin, and the honorary name 
of Annasir Lidinillah,* as well as other appendages of the Khilafat. 
The detail of the various memorable occurrences, relative to Annasir, 
would exceed the limits assigned to this narrative ; yet a few particulars 
deserve to be noticed. At the commencement of his reign, he alleviated 
the taxes of his people: and after his victories over the rebels in the coun^ 
try, as before noticed, he obliged them to evacuate all their strong places, 
so that no competitor remained to him. In his wars against the unbe- 
lievers, too, he signalised himself greatly. In the year 308, f he carried 
his arms into Gallicia; the king of which country, Ordono, son of Alonso, 
having sought assistance from Navarre and France, had been joined by 
Sancho, son of Garcias, king of Navarre : Annasir, however, routed 
them, wasted their country, subdued their strong holds, and demolished 
their fortresses. Then in the year 312, he made war on Pamplona, 
conquered the open country, took and razed the forts, and penetrated 
to the other extremity of the land ; the enemy opposing him upon the 
mountains and difficult passes only, without causing him any injury. 

reigned so many years : the reason might be that he did not make any notable conquest, or gain 
any splendid victory ; but was rather unfortunate in his government. 
* Defender of the true faith. fA.C 920 or 921. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



97 



After this, he had to contend with one of his own subjects, who had 
rebelled and sought assistance from the Christians. Sometime after the 
suppression of this rebellion, Annasir invaded Ilia, and took thirty 
forts belonging to it : and in the year 325, being informed that Tiida, 
or Teuda, Queen of Navarre, who, on the death of her son Garcias, had 
taken charge of the government in behalf of his son, had infringed the 
treaty subsisting between them, he attacked her, penetrated to Pam- 
plona, and, on her submission, he invested her son,* Garcias, with the 
sovereignty of the country. He then invaded Leon, and the open 
country, and afterwards entered Gallicia ; when King Ramiro hesitat- 
ing to meet him in the field, shut himself up in his fortified places, 
whilst Burgos, and many other fortresses, were taken and demolished 
by the Moslems. 

Annasir, further, turned his attention to the land of Africa ; and having 
in the year 317, t made himself master of Ceuta, the Banu Idris, princes 
of Africa, with the kings of theZanatas and Barbars, submitted to him; 
so that most of them sent over such of their forces as he required to his 
assistance in Spain. 

In the year 327,$ happened the battle of the ditch, as it is called ; 
and, it is thus related by Masaiidy. On learning the revolt of 
Ummaiyatu-bn Ishaac, and his junction with the Christians, to whom 
he pointed out the weakest parts on the frontiers of the Moslems, 
Annasir led an army of more than one hundred thousand men to 
Zamora, the capital of Gallicia, and laid siege to that city. In the 
month Shavwal of that year,§ three days after the eclipse, a battle took 

* Perhaps her grandson. f 929 of Christ. 

X 939 of Christ. But this battle is also said to have happened in 323 of the Hijra ; and the 
month Shavwal of that year began about the third of September, 935 of the Christian era ; both 
these dates, however, differ from Mariana's chronology. See the 5th chap, of the 8th book of his 
ec Historia General de Espaiia." Cardonne seems to have followed Mariana in this, as apparently 
in many other instances : and it is remarkable, that these two European authors represent the 
battle as happening at Simancas, whilst the Arabians concur in its having taken place, as here 
stated, at Zamora. The occasion of this war, too, is differently related by Cardonne in every 
Aspect. § Between the 21st July and the 18th August. 

O 



98 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



place between him and Ramiro, King of the Gallicians, in which the 
Moslems were victorious. The besieged then made a sortie ; and, being 
driven back into the city, the Moslems attempted to storm the place ; 
when there were killed of the latter, after they had passed the ditch, 
fifty thousand . The same author, in another part, remarks, that there 
were seven walls of a wonderful construction round Zamora ; and be- 
tween the walls were outer works, and wide ditches, filled with water : 
of these the Moslems had gained two walls, when the besieged attacked 
them, and slew twenty thousand ; and, besides the slain, forty thou- 
sand, or, according to some, fifty thousand, were drowned of the 
Moslems. Had Ramiro pursued the remnant of the Khalif's army after 
this last loss, he must have destroyed it entirely : but, Ibn Ishaac, by 
alarming him with the danger of an ambuscade, and alluring him with 
the riches, arms, and stores in the camp of the Moslems, diverted him 
from it. After this event, Ibn Ishaac sought a reconciliation with 
Annasir, who received him graciously on his escaping from Ramiro. 

Not intimidated by this serious defeat, Annasir continued to send his 
forces, under various leaders, against the Gallicians, though he did not 
again head the army in person ; and by these repeated expeditions, the 
enemy lost twice as many men as fell of the Moslems in that battle. 
Yet, in consequence of that event, the fortresses on the frontiers of 
France were reduced; and Narbonne, with other cities and castles, 
was taken from the Moslems in the year 330 of the Hijra. Six years 
afterwards, their frontiers were drawn back to Tortosa, on the sea coast, 
thence extending northwards along the great river (Ebro) to Lerida. 

But, through dread of Annasir, ambassadors were dispatched to him 
by various Christian princes. In the month Safar of the year 338,* 
arrived an embassy from Constantine, son of Leo, sovereign of Con- 
stantinople. The letter from this prince was on azure ground, and the 
characters were of gold ; but within this was an enclosure, the ground 
of which was azure, like the first mentioned, but the characters were 

* August, 949, of Christ. Another author, however, mentions, that this embassy arrived in 
336 of the Hijra, or two years earlier. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



99 



silver ; and this last contained an account of the presents that were 
sent : both these writings were in the Greek language. Upon the letter 
was a seal in gold, of the weight of four mithcals ; on one side of which 
was a likeness of the Messiah, and on the other were the figures of the 
Emperor Constantine and his father. In a box of carved silver the 
letter was deposited ; and over that was a case of gold, in which was a 
portrait of Constantine, admirably executed on stained glass : this box, 
moreover, was enclosed in a quiver,* and the quiver was covered with 
a cloth of silk and gold tissue. On the first line of the preface of the 
letter was, " Constantine and Romanus, believers in the Messiah, the 
" two Emperors, sovereigns of Rome;" and, on the other line was, 
" The Great in the rightful possession of Glory — the noble in descent, 
" Abdurrahman, the Khalif ruling over the Arabs in Spain — may God 
" prolong his life !" 

On the approach of this embassy, Annasir first dispatched Yahya-bn 
Muhammad, with others, to the frontiers, to conduct it : and, on its 
drawing near Cordova, he sent general after general with divisions of 
troops, to meet and honour it: lastly, the two chief eunuchs, who had the 
government of the palaces, and were in those days of vast power in the 
state, went forth in great pomp to evince the utmost attention of the 
Khalif in receiving it : and the embassy was lodged in a seat of the 
heir apparent, in the suburbs of Cordova, where none were allowed to 
communicate with it. Then, on Saturday, the eleventh of the prior 
Rabia, the doors, avenues, and areas of the palace being adorned with 
the richest draperies, curtains, and carpets, and the troops marshalled 
in their most splendid dresses and arms, the embassy was conducted to 
the Khalif on his throne : at the right hand of which were seated his 
sons ; at the left, his uncles ; his ministers were stationed on the right 
and left, according to their rank ; and the sons of the Vizirs, with infe- 
rior officers, stood in their appointed places. With astonishment at the 
splendour and magnificence of this arrangement, the ambassadors 
presented the letter of Constantine ; and the Khalif then commanded 
the learned to celebrate the eminency of Islamism, and of the Khilafat, 

* Apparently a case, in the form of a quiver, is intended. 



loo 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



as well as to return thanks for the mercies of God displayed in the 
manifestation and support of his holy religion, and in the humiliation 
of its enemies. When, however, they prepared to execute the command, 
the dread of the august assembly so overpowered them, that they turned 
their eyes abashed to the ground ; and, if they actually commenced a 
speech, it was interrupted by terror. Amongst them, too, was Abu 
Aliyu-1 Kaly, from Irak, a guest of the Khalif s, one of the associates 
of the heir apparent, Alhakam, and highly renowned for his knowledge 
of language, as well as for the works which he had published ; and, 
Alhakam had selected him for this performance, that he, rather than 
any other, might have the credit of it ;* but none of them could summon 
resolution enough to comfort the assembly. Then Mundhiru-bn Said, 
though devoid of experience in such matters, and without having made 
any preparation for the purpose, opened a speech, and dilated his argu- 
ments in a long poem, which he delivered extempore : so that not only 
his merit appeared extraordinary to the whole assembly, and the 
strangers regarded him as a. chief in it, but Annasir so highly valued 
him for his conduct on this occasion, as to appoint him to a principal 
office in the mosque of the palace of Azzahra, in the first place ; and 
afterwards to confer on him the dignity of Cadhy, in the great mosque 
of Cordova, which he held with the highest credit till his death : he 
being famous for his eloquence in the pulpit, as well as for his writings 
on religious and moral subjects, and for his excellent poetry. 

On the departure of those ambassadors, Hishamu-bn Hadil accompa- 
nied them on the part of the Khalif, taking with him abundant presents, 
for the purpose of making a suitable return to their sovereign, and 
of establishing friendship with him. And, at the expiration of two 
years, Hisham came back to Spain, attended by ambassadors from 
Constantine. 

* It is, however, related by Ibn Haiyan, lhat Alhakam, the heir apparent, to whom the 
Khalif had committed the ordering of this ceremony, commanded the Fakih Muhamwadu-bn 
Abdi-1 Barr, who was then in great repute for eloquence, to prepare the oration ; but, on his 
attempting to speak, he actually fainted ; and then Abu Aly was invited to undertake the task, in 
which he also had not power to proceed. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



101 



But other embassies, also, arrived at Annasir' s court ; namely, one 
from the King of the Sclavonians, called Dficii ; * one from the King 
of France behind the Pyrenees, named Ukad ; and one from the sove- 
reign of France on the east side of the country, called Calda. These 
envoys were likewise received by Annasir with great pomp and state : 
and he sent back, with the ambassador of the Sclavonians, to their so- 
vereign Hugo, Rabia, the bishop, who returned after an absence of two 
years. 

In the year 344, f there arrived an envoy from Ordono to solicit peace ; 
which was established with him : and, the next year, he sent to request 
that Ferdinand, Count of Castille, might be comprised in the treaty ; 
which, also, was granted. This Ferdinand was a great man among 
the Gallicians ; who had rebelled against Garcias, son of Sancho : and 
Ferdinand, having taken the government of the country, had joined 
himself with Ordofio, son of Ramiro. But Garcias, against whom the 
Gallicians had acted treacherously, was the grandson of Tuda, queen 
of Navarre : and, in the year 347,J she presented herself before Annasir, 
for the purpose of obtaining peace for herself and her son, Sancho ; as 
well as to solicit the Khalif's aid in behalf of her grandson, Garcias, to 
enable him to vanquish his enemy, and to regain his kingdom. With 
the Queen came, also, the two princes : and Annasir received them in 
state. Terms of peace were then accorded to Sancho and his mother : 
and a large army was sent with Garcias, by which he was restored to 
his kingdom ; the Gallicians being induced to abjure their allegiance 
to Ordono. For this effectual aid, Garcias, afterwards, sent an embassy 
of thanks to the Khalif : and he wrote letters to the surrounding people 
on this subject, as well as on the conduct of Ferdinand, Count of Cas- 
tille ; whom he reproached for his treason and usurpation. Annasir 
continued his friendly offices and assistance to Garcias, during his life. 

With the ambassador of Calda, queen of the east part of France, 
whose arrival has already been noticed, came also an envoy from the 
sovereign of Barcelona and Tarragona, to solicit peace ; which was 

* His title of duke; he is afterwards called by his proper name, Hugo. f A. C. 955 or 956, 
t A.C. 958 or 959. 



102 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



granted : and, after them, came an envoy from the sovereign of Rome, 
to court Annasir's friendship ; and this was conceded to him. 

Annasir appointed Musa-bn Muhammad to be his Hajib, or prime 
minister, and Abdulmaliki-bn Jahwar, as well as Ahmadu-bn Shahid, 
to be his vizirs. The latter of these made, in the year 327, such a pre- 
sent to his sovereign as became famous for its magnitude, and as serves 
to shew the riches and greatness of the Muhammadan empire in Spain 
at that period. With this present, too, and the letter accompanying it, 
Annasir was so delighted, that he doubled the salary of vizir to him, 
making it eighty thousand dinars,* exalted him above all the other 
vizirs, gave him the title of Dhulvizaratain, or Lord of the double Vizarat, 
honoured him with the first seat, and placed his name at the head of 
the roll of officers of state. 

This present,t according to Ibn Khaldun, consisted of five hundred 
thousand mithcals of coined gold ; four hundred pounds of virgin gold, 
worth in exchange forty five thousand dinars ; twelve pounds of rare 
Indian wood of aloes, that would bear an impression like wax ; one 
hundred and eighty pounds of choice wood of aloes, and one hundred 
pounds of precious wood of the same sort : Ibnu-1 Farazy, however, 
who refers to the list delivered in by Ibn Shahid, says that there were 
four hundred pounds of wood of aloes, of which one piece weighed a 
hundred and eighty pounds. One hundred ounces of pure musk of 
an excellent quality, according to Ibn Khaldun : but Ibnu-1 Farazy, 
copying from the list transmitted with the articles, says, two hundred 
and twelve ounces. Five hundred ounces of pale native amber; of 
which there was one piece, perfect in shape, of the wonderful size 
of one hundred ounces ; according to Ibn Khaldun : but Ibnu-1 Farazy 
says, one hundred ounces in all ; of which one piece weighed forty 
ounces. Three hundred ounces of pure camphor of the choicest 
quality. Ibn Khaldun also says, thirty robes and a quantity of silk, 

* Cardonne, however, says " one hundred thousand dinars:" but whence did he get the infor- 
mation ? 

f Cardonne and other writers have mentioned some of these articles : the present, however, 
will be found here more particularly enumerated. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN, 



103 



printed and embroidered with gold, of various colours, for the dress 
of the Khalif ; and ten dresses, or vests, of Khurasanian martin skins : 
Ibnu-1 Farazy, however, differs from him in saying, robes of va- 
rious kinds, intended for the Khalif s own use, part white and part 
coloured, thirty; five badges (or ornaments of dress), peculiar to the 
Shalb sect, and suitable to the Khalif ; ten vests of martin skins, seven 
of them white from Khurasan, and three coloured ; six square Irakian 
dresses proper for the Khalif ; forty-eight Zahry upper garments for 
his daily use, and one hundred of the same manufacture for sleeping 
in : and, as Ibnu-1 Farazy drew his information from the very sche- 
dule of the presents, delivered with them, his statement is the most 
deserving of our belief. One hundred sable skins, which both au- 
thors allow ; but Ibn Khaldun adds, one Irakian curtain (to be hung 
before the seat of the Khalif) ; and forty-eight dresses of the manufac- 
ture of Baghdad, made of silk and gold, for the clothing of horses. 
Then both authors say, four thousand pounds of spun silk ; one thou- 
sand pounds of choice coloured silk, for spinning : Ibn Khaldun adds, 

thirty pieces of (term unknown) for saddles. Thirty carpets of 

different manufactures ; each of which was twenty cubits in length. 
One hundred carpets used in the office of prayer. Fifteen Nukha * of a 
silk manufacture, having the face of it shorn. Of arms, Ibn Khaldun says 
eight hundred suits of armour for horses, to adorn them on processions 
and public exhibitions : but, Ibnu-1 Farazy says, one hundred suits of 
armour for horses, of the most rare and perfect workmanship. One 
thousand regal f shields. One hundred thousand arrows of a most ex- 
cellent sort. Fifteen select Arabian horses of the choicest qualities for 
the Sultan's own riding, according to Ibn Khaldun : Ibnu-1 Farazy, 
however, says, one hundred horses ; of which fifteen were choice Ara- 
bians, for the Sultan's own use ; five others, decked with harness proper 
for him to ride on, the seats of the saddles being Irakian velvet ; and 
the other eighty were suitable for attendants and servants. Ibn Khal- 

* This word may be of the same import as the Persian nakh, which means a sort of carpet 
worked or raised on both sides. 

t Or shields of the manufacture of Sultania ; which description appears most probable. 



104 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



dun says, one hundred horses trained for military excursions and for 
war. Ibnu-1 Farazy says, five tall mules : but Ibn Khaldun says, 
twenty mules for riding on, fully caparisoned in the style of the Khalif, 
the seats of their saddles being of Irakian velvet, embroidered with 
gold. Forty choice male slaves, and twenty females, with their clothing 
and utensils : in regard to the females, Ibn Khaldun says, " select, 
" with their dresses and ornaments. " Ten hundred weight of fine 
lump sugar. A villa, with its domain, in the sowing of which some 
thousands of measures of grain had been expended by the giver ; and, 
the stone for the buildings erected on it, had cost in one year eighty 
thousand dinars ; with twenty thousand trees of the finest and most 
durable wood, and very straight, the worth of which was fifty thousand 
dinars. Besides these articles, Ibn Shahid presented Annasir with a 
Christian boy, so handsome, that eye bad not beheld his like before ; 
and, after that, he sent him a maid, the most beautiful of women. 

Annasir Lidinillah died on the second or third of Ramazan in the 
year 350,* aged seventy-three years ; when his authority was at the 
highest pitch ; and the faith, through his sway, most exalted. He is 
said to have left in his treasuries five thousand millions of money ; t and, 
to have appropriated his revenues in the following manner ; namely, 
one third to his army ; one third to building ; and, the remaining third 
to be reserved in his treasury. The annual revenue of Spain, from the 
towns and villages, is reported to have amounted in his days to five 
millions four hundred and eighty thousand dinars ; and, from spoils in 
war, seven hundred and sixty-five thousand dinars ; besides a fifth of 
the great plunder made by his soldiers, which was not comprised in the 
register of his treasury. 

It is said that this prince, in a paper written with his own hand, 
mentioned the days on which he experienced pure happiness ; and, on 
numbering them, they were found to amount to no more than fourteen. 

* About the 27th of October 961 of Christ. The Spanish historian Mariana, however, says that 
this prince died in 959 of Christ, answering to 350 of the Hijra ; but he is doubtless wrong in 
this, as well as in many other of his calculations respecting the two eras. 

-f- Perhaps, dirhems may be understood. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



105 



" Note this" (says our author) <c thou man of understanding, and 
" mark how small a portion of real happiness the world affords, even 
ce in the most favourable circumstances ! The Khalif Annasir, the heir 
" of prosperity, whose eminence in the world and whose ascension in 
" empire are proverbial, found, in a reign of fifty years seven months 
" and three days, only fourteen days of undisturbed enjoyment. Praise 
" to Him who possesses eternal glory and ever-during sway ! There 
" is no God but He ! " 

On the death of Annasir, his son, Alhakam ul Mustansir Billab, suc- 
ceeded to the Khilafat : and he received the oath of allegiance from his 
officers and people at the palace of Azzahra, seated on the throne in 
the central Bahv * of the eastern golden hall, which is on the polished 
esplanade. At this ceremony, the principal attendants wore white 
facings on their dress, in token of mourning.f 

Following the steps of his father in conduct and government, Alha- 
kam constituted Jaafaru-s Siklaby his Hajib ; who presented to him, 
on the day of his appointment, amongst other things, one hundred 
European Mamluksjf mounted on swift horses, with their armour and 
arms, consisting of swords, spears, shields, targets, and Indian caps, 
complete : upwards of three hundred and twenty coats of mail of dif- 
ferent kinds : three hundred helmets in like sort : one hundred iron 
Indian helmets : fifty Indian helmets of wood : some European helmets 
not of wood, and called Attashtana : three hundred European javelins : 
one hundred Sultanian shields: ten silver coats of mail gilt: and 
twenty buffalos' horns gilt. 

As soon as the Gallicians were apprised of the death of Annasir, they 
began to attack the frontiers ; but Alhakam, having headed his army 

* There seems no English term corresponding to this Arabic word, which sometimes means, as 
it may here do, " the space between two rows of columns in an edifice : " so that the term nave, 
when applied to the central walk of a Gothic church, approaches near to it in that sense, and is not 
very remote from it in sound. 

■f Contrary to the custom of their eastern brethren, who wore black in mourning, the Maho- 
metans of Spain used white dresses on such an occasion. 

£ So called in the original. 

P 



106 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



in person, invaded the territory of Ferdinand (Count of Castille) ; and, 
having laid siege to St. Estevan, he obliged it to yield, and razed it to 
the ground : after which he returned ; and the Gallicians, being dis- 
appointed of the hope they had begun to entertain, made peace with 
him. 

Then he dispatched, against the territory of Gallicia, his servant Gha- 
lib ; who encountered and defeated the enemy. Afterwards, the army 
entered the land of Ferdinand, and spoiled it. On the defection of 
Sancho, King of Navarre, moreover, from the treaty by which he was 
bound, Alhakam sent against him Attajiby, governor of Saragossa ; 
who defeated him, together with his ally the King of Gallicia ; and, 
when these had taken refuge in Coria, the army wasted the country 
around, and retired from it. Then, Alhakam sent Ibn Ahmad and 
Attajiby against Barcelona ; the territory of which they spoiled : he, 
moreover, dispatched Ibn Hashim and his servant Ghalib into the land 
of the Count (of Castille) ; which they wasted. Thus, the victories of 
Alhakam and of the governors on the frontiers, were great : and, 
amongst the principal of these may be reckoned the capture of Cala- 
horra in Navarre, by Ghalib ; which Alhakam rebuilt and fortified : 
also, that of Catunia (or Catubia) by the governor of Huesca ; in which 
place he gained money, arms, provisions, and stores ; besides the sheep, 
oxen, draught horses, articles of food, and captives, which were with- 
out number in its territory. 

In the year 354,* Ghalib again invaded the country of Ilia, f in com- 
pany with Attajiby and Kasimu-bn Dhilnun ; when he took the 
fortress of Gormaz,+ and subdued the territory. In the same year, the 
ships of the Majus (Normans) appeared again on the ocean ; and they 
ravaged the open country about Lisbon : but, on battle being offered 

* A.C. 965. 

■j- This is a very doubtful word, though often used in the original. In some parts it is translated 
" Leon ; " but, from the mention of Gormaz, as appertaining to that territory, it seems to include 
the province of Soria. 

I The Arabic word here translated " Gormaz," may also be read Azmaj, and it may perhaps 
mean Osma. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



107 



to them by the people there, they returned to the vessels from which 
they had disembarked. Alhakam, however, dispatched his commanders 
to protect the coasts : and he directed his admiral, Abdurrahman, to 
hasten the sailing of the fleet ; but intelligence arrived, in the mean 
time, of their having been repelled by the army from every quarter 
where they had landed. 

At the close of the month Safar of the year 351, came Ordono, son 
of Alonso, King of the Gallicians, to Alhakam' s court. For Annasir 
had supported against him Sancho, son of his uncle Ramiro ; who 
possessed the throne before Ordono ; and, whom the Christians were 
most disposed to obey : but, Ordono sought to prevail over him by the 
assistance of his father-in-law, Ferdinand Count of Castille. Protec- 
tion had, therefore, been granted by Alhakam to Sancho, in the same 
manner as Annasir had acted towards him. Ordono, however, hastened 
to Alhakam, to solicit his support ; and the latter received him with 
all the pomp and state before exhibited on similar occasions : he, more- 
over, stipulated to assist him, on condition of his withdrawing himself 
from the Count, and becoming the ally of the Mahometans. To con- 
firm this agreement, the Khalif reached out to him his hand ; and 
Ordono pledged his son, Garcias, as a hostage. He was, therefore, dis- 
missed, with presents to himself and to his followers : and the principal 
Christians, who lived under the protection of the Khalif, returned with 
Ordono to establish his authority among his subjects, and to receive the 
hostage stipulated. At this, Sancho, son of OrdonVs uncle, Ramiro, 
sent to acknowledge his submission, as well as that of the Counts and 
Bishops of the people of Gallicia and Zamora, and to solicit the Kha- 
lif s acceptance of it ; urging, in behalf of his suit, the line of conduct 
which Annasir had held towards him. To this application Alhakam 
assented on certain conditions ; one of which was, that he should de- 
stroy the forts and castles situate in the vicinity of the Musalman fron- 
tiers. Afterwards, the two Princes of Barcelona, Tarragona, and other 
places, solicited a renewal of the treaty of peace, as it existed before : 
and they sent, by way of presents, twenty castrated Sclavonian boys, 
besides a quantity of sable skins, European swords, &c. which the 



108 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



Khalif accepted. Peace was then concluded with them, on condition 
that they should destroy such forts as were productive of mischief to 
the Musalman frontiers ; and that they should endeavour to deter 
other Christians from spoiling and taking captive the Moslems. Am- 
bassadors, moreover, came from Garcias, son of Sancho, king of Navarre, 
with a number of bishops and counts, to solicit peace ; which also was 
granted, notwithstanding the procrastination and deceit which that 
prince had manifested. The mother of Roderic, son of Bilask,* the 
great count in the west of Gallicia, also came ; and Alhakam, having 
first dispatched the officers of his court to meet her, received her in 
state, and assented to the peace she requested in behalf of her son. 
This lady was mounted on a swift mule ; her bridle and saddle were 
laden with gold ; and the covering of the steed was made of silk, 
embroidered with gold. At bidding her farewell, the Khalif received 
her a second time in state ; and, though presents had before been made 
to her and to her attendants, yet they were repeated at her departure. 

But it was not in Spain alone that Alhakam's power was felt and 
acknowledged. Having transported his armies to the opposite shore 
of Africa, he subdued the most western part, as well as the middle pro- 
vinces of that, continent, so that the princes of his time, from Maghrava 
and Maknasa,* owned his supremacy ; and prayers were offered up 
for him in their states, as the chief of their religion. Such of the Banu 
Hirz and the Banu-1 Aafia, too, as came to him, he treated with libe- 
rality and honour ; but he deposed the Banu Idris from their flourishing 
kingdom ; and, having first removed them to Cordova, he afterwards 
transported them from that city to Alexandria. 

Alhakam befriended the sciences, and honoured the learned. He 
was, moreover, a greater collector of books than any of the sovereigns, 
his predecessors. It is recorded on good authority, that the catalogue 
of the names of the books in this Khalif s library, filled forty-four 
volumes ; in each of which, twenty leaves were taken up with the mere 

* Probably Velasquez. 

•f These are names of cities or states in the western part of Africa : the latter is generally 
written Mequfnesa ; and is about one day's journey distant from Fez. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



109 



names of poetical works. For learning and learned men, Alhakam 
had established so celebrated an emporium, that it attracted the pro- 
ductions of every clime. To his father's court had, indeed, come from 
Baghdad, Abu Aliyi-1 Kaly, author of the work, called Kitabu-1 
Amaly ; who, being welcomed byAnnasir, had imparted his knowledge 
to the people of Spain : but he was particularly attached to Alhakam ; 
who neglected not to profit by his instruction. 

This Khalif, also, employed merchants to collect books for him in 
distant countries, till a quantity, beyond all expectation, was conveyed 
to Spain. To Abii-1 Faraji-1 Isfahany, author of the work, called 
Alaghany,* in which Alhakam s genealogy was given, he sent one thou- 
sand golden dinars, and was furnished with a copy of it, previous to its 
being made public in Irak. With Abu Bakri-1 Abhary, too, he acted 
in the same liberal manner, for his commentary on Ibn Abdilhakam's 
epitome, &c. He gathered together, moreover, and employed in his 
own house, those who were best skilled in transcribing, binding, and 
ornamenting books : and such biblical treasures were amassed in Spain 
as no one possessed before, or after him ; unless, indeed, regard be had 
to the reports circulated with respect to the Khalif Annasir of the house 
of Alabbas. These books remained in the palace of Cordova till, at 
the siege of that city by the Barbars, most of them were brought forth 
and sold by the order of the Hajib Wazih, and the rest were plundered 
on the capture of the place. 

But Alhakam did not form this vast collection of books for the sake 
of mere parade : he preferred the pleasure of reading them to all the 
enjoyments which royalty could afford. In the knowledge of biography, 
history, and genealogy, he was most eminent and incomparable : owing 
to these circumstances, there were but few books in his immense library, 
for it is said to have contained no less than four hundred thousand 
volumes, of which he had not investigated the subject, and written in 
them the genealogies, births, and deaths of the authors. Through his 
intense application, however, to the perusal of these works, which he 

* A very copious and much esteemed biographical work. 



110 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



had even exhausted his treasury in procuring, his eye-sight became so 
much injured, that he was at last forced to relinquish this his favourite 
pursuit. Many were the masters under whom he had studied. But 
learning was not his only boast ; he was liberal in manners, respectful 
to those who approached him, active in business, and sincere. He was, 
moreover, so averse to wine, that he forcibly endeavoured to abolish the 
use of it in his dominions, 

After being confined to his bed for some time, in consequence of 
apoplexy, Alhakam died, in the palace of Cordova, on the second of 
the month Safar, in the year 366,* in the sixteenth year of his reign. 

After Alhakam, his son Hisham, surnamed Almuwaiyad, came to the 
throne, at the age of nine years. But, Muhammadu-bn AbyAamir, 
whom Alhakam had promoted from the rank of Cadhy to that of Vizir, 
and raised to great power, succeeded in his intrigues against the 
youthful Hisham, so as to usurp all author^ in the state. This design 
he accomplished through the aid of Jaafaru-1 Mashafy, the young 
Khalif's Hajib, and of Ghalib governor of Medina Celi, together with 
the eunuchs of the palace: and, by their assistance, he first slew 
Almughlra, brother of Alhakam and the supporterf of Hisham's sway. 
Then he plotted against the great officers of the state, and set them at 
variance ; so that they attacked, weakened, and slew each other. Some 
person from among the Yemenians, too, retraced the entrance, with 
Tarik, into Spain, of Ibn Aby Aamir's ancestor, Abdulmalik, who was 
a great man amongst his tribe, and had some share in the conquest. 
This circumstance Abu Aamir took care to magnify; and, having forced 
Hisham to submit to his control, he prohibited all the Vizirs from 
approaching him, except on particular days ; when they were allowed 
merely to salute the Khalif, and then to depart. The army he gained 
by munificence ; the learned he exalted in rank ; and the seditious he 
suppressed by force : being himself wise, provident, brave, experienced 

* About the 30th of September, A. C. 976. 

f The historian Ibnu-1 Athlr, however, says that Almughlra was slain on account of his 
aspiring to the throne : and the same author states the age of Hisham to be ten years at his 
beginning to reign. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



Ill 



in war and stedfast in religion. Shortly, without any authority from 
Hisham, or even without his knowledge, he dispatched forces against 
such officers of the state as conspired against, or opposed, him, and 
removed them from their offices : and he further contrived to make 
those who stood in his way slay each other, till he had totally eradi- 
cated them. In the first place, he instigated the Hajib, Almashafy, 
against the Sclavonian eunuchs who served in the palace; so that they, 
to the number of more than eight hundred,* were expelled by that 
minister. Next, he contracted an alliance with Ghalib, freed-man of 
the late Khalif, by marrying his daughter : the ceremony on which 
occasion was the grandest that had been witnessed in Spain : and by 
flattery and artifice he obtained Ghalib's aid in attacking Almashafy, 
whose influence in the state he entirely abolished. Then he removed 
Ghalib, by means of Jaafaru-bn Aly and others : and Jaafar he killed 
through the assistance of Abdulwadfid, Ibn Jahwar, Ibn Dhilnfm, and 
others, who were the chiefs of the Arabs in the state. Having thus set 
aside all from whom he might expect opposition or competition in the 
government, he began to turn his views to the army ; the privates as 
well as officers of which he collected from the Barbars and other 
people on the continent of Africa. When these preparations were 
accomplished, he removed Hisham by force from the throne : and, 
being in full possession of the government, he maintained all the great- 
ness of the Khalifs without the support of their prerogatives. He 
renewed the war with the unbelievers ; removed the Arabs from their 
posts of honour ; advanced the strangers, whom he had invited from 
Africa ; and, acted as he thought fit in the plenitude of sovereignty and 
with absolute sway. He, moreover, built for himself a city,t which he 
called Azzahira ; lodged in it the treasures and military stores ; and, 
assuming the title of Alhajibu-1 Mansiir, he caused himself to be 
addressed in the royal style. Public instructions, proclamations, and 
commands were issued in his name ; prayers were, by his order, offered 
up for him in the places of public worship, after those for the Khalif; 

* These eunuchs seem to have formed the Khalifs body guard, 
f Or rather, perhaps, in the European idiom " a Palace." 



112 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



his name was impressed on the coins and the seals of state ; he appointed 
his own ministers ; constituted the army of Barbars and Mamliiks ;* 
and surrounded himself with a multitude of slaves and guards to secure 
his power, and to overwhelm every competitor: so that no appendage 
of royalty, except the mention of his name in the public prayers, was 
left to Hisham. 

Having thus firmly established his dominion at home, Almansur led 
in person his armiesf to the field : and, during his reign, he fought 
fifty-six battles, without a single failure in any military enterprise, or 
the defeat of even a detachment of his army. But, besides the expe- 
ditions he directed in Spain, he transported his forces to Africa, and 
subdued the princes of Barbary, conquering one by the aid or means of 
another: so that the sovereignty of that region was lodged in his 
hands ; the chiefs of the various provinces shrinking before him and 
submitting to his sway. His son, Abdulmalik, he sent over to Africa, 
to the Maghrava princes in Fez : and on Ziriyu-bn Atlya (their sove- 
reign's) refusal to assent to the demand of money made on him, and to 
acquiesce in the curtailment of his appointment, as well as in the seclu- 
sion of the Khalif, Hisham, Abdulmalik deprived him of the sovereignty 
of Fez ; and granted all the provinces of the western part of Africa, 
comprising Sijilmassa and other places, to the princes of Zanata. 
Previously to his returning to Cordova, Abdulmalik appointed Wazih, 
viceroy over the west of Africa. 

Almansur added much to the great mosque in Cordova: he also built 
the bridge over the great river Carcaba,J which he began in 378, and 
finished in 399, at the expense of one hundred and forty thousand 
dinars ; and another, with great labour, over the river at Ecija. 

In his forty-eighth expedition against the unbelievers, this prince 
took the city of St. Jago, in the remotest part of Gallicia, to which 

* Meaning, as the term does when applied to the force of the same name maintained in Egypt, 
slaves employed in military service. 

f At a review of his assembled troops without the city of Cordova, Almansur is said to have 
mustered, on one occasion, two hundred thousand horse and six hundred thousand foot. 

I What river is this name intended for ? can it be the Ebro ? 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN 



113 



none of the Musalman sovereigns had before penetrated. The church 
in that place is regarded by Europeans with veneration, equal to that 
which the Mahometans entertain for the Caaba; because the body of 
James, brother of Jesus, and bishop of Jerusalem, is supposed to be 
buried there. On this expedition Almansur departed from Cordova on 
Saturday, the twenty-third of the latter Jumady, in 387,* and having 
fitted out a fleet with provisions and arms to meet him at Oporto, he 
directed his march by Coria to that city, and arrived at St. Jago, on 
Wednesday, the second of Shaaban.f Finding the place deserted by all 
its inhabitants, except one old monk, who was sitting on the torn]? of 
St. James, the Moslems collected the booty, and destroyed the walls, 
houses, and church ; but the tomb, which was of rare workmanship, as 
well as the old monk, was spared and protected by Almansur. From 
this place the army proceeded to the island of St. Mabalas, the extre- 
mity of the country to which the Moslems never attained before ; and 
Almansur then directed his inarch through the country of Bomond, 
son of Ordono, which he wasted till he reached the territories of the 
confederate counts who were with him. These districts he spared ; and, 
on his arrival at the fortress of Balkia, he put dresses on the counts, as 
well as on their followers, and dismissed them to their respective 
countries. 

Many anecdotes are related of the strictness with which this prince 
caused j ustice to be administered, and of the astonishing subordination 
he introduced into his army. With respect to the latter, not only were 
his men steady and submissive at parade, but rarely was a horse known 
to neigh at it : happening, however, one day to perceive a sword glitter 
at an improper time in the farthest part of the field, he immediately 
caused the man who had drawn it to be brought before him. Being 
asked the reason of this disorderly act, the man sought to excuse 
himself by saying, that he had only pointed it, sheathed, at his 
" comrade, and it had chanced to fall out." Almansur, however, 
observed, that the affair was of such a nature as could not admit of 
excuse ; and having commanded him to be decapitated, he caused his 

* About the third of July, A. C. 91)7. t About the 10th of August. 

Q 



114 THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



head to be carried about and exhibited to all the army ; proclamation 
at the same time being made of his offence. 

When his empire was at the highest pitch, and his sway uncon- 
trolled, Almansiir died on his return from a war, which he conducted 
against the Franks, in the month Safar of the year 392,* according to 
some, or in the year 394 according to others ; and his body was borne 
on the heads of his men, till they reached Medina Celi, where he was 
buried, after a government of twenty-six or twenty-seven years, -j- 
according to the different chronologies given of him. In all his military 
expeditions against the Christians, this monarch made a practice of 
collecting into a bag whatever dust might adhere to his face : and he 
directed by will, that it should be used at his death, with the articles 
of perfume which he kept always ready, in preparing his body for the 
tomb. His shroud, also, he constantly took with him ; and, that it 
might not be the acquisition of injustice in any respect, it was formed 
of materials produced on his paternal inheritance, and spun by his own 
daughters. 

Almansiir was succeeded by his son, Abdulmaliku-1 Muzaffar, who 
pursued the steps of his father in government and warlike enterprise. 
His days were days of festivity ; but after a victorious reign of seven 
years, he died in the month Muharram of the year 399, X or, as some 
say, in the year preceding. 

During Abdulmalik' s reign, Almoaz, son of ZTry, king of Maghrava, 
having, after the death of his father, regained Fez and the western part 
of Africa, was established in the government of that country, on his 
applying to Abdulmalik for confirmation of his authority. 

At the decease of Abdulmalik, his brother, Abdurrahman, surnamed 

* In the latter part of November, or beginning of December, 100], of Christ. 

•]• In one year of this prince's reign, there was so great a famine at Cordova, that the Arroba, 
or quarter of a hundred weight of flour, was sold for two dinars. On the very day, however, that 
he had occasion to make a feast for the purification of his son, Abdurrahman, the sky became 
charged with clouds, and the rain descended abundantly ; so that, from the prospect of returning 
plenty, the inhabitants began on that day to regain their cheerfulness. 

% September, 1008 of Christ 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



115 



Annasir Lidlnillah, or, as some say, Almamun, assumed the government. 
At first, he imitated the conduct of his father and brother, in excluding 
Hisham ; but, afterwards, he adopted the design of restoring the fallen 
Khilafat, and solicited the Khalif Hisham to appoint him heir apparent 
to that dignity : in compliance with which request, the latter nomi- 
nated him such by a public act, dated in the first Rabia of the year 
398. This step, however, irritated against him the great men of the 
state, and was the occasion of his death, as well as of the subversion of 
his family : for, during his absence at the war in Gallicia, the people of 
Cordova rebelled, killed the commander of the guards in his residence at 
the gate of the palace of the Khilafat, deposed Hisham, and inaugurated 
Muhammad, son of Hisham, son of Abduljabbar, Khalif; surnaming 
him Almuhdy Billah. When intelligence of this change reached Ab- 
durrahman, who was then on the frontiers, he returned towards the me- 
tropolis, confident in his own influence and power : on his approach, 
however, to Cordova, the soldiers of his army and the chiefs of the Bar- 
bars stole away from him ; and, joining Almuhdy in the city, they ex- 
cited the latter against him, as an imprudent, evil-disposed person, 
unfit to command : and, happening to fall into the hands of some who 
were disaffected towards him, they struck off* his head, and conveyed 
it to the Khalif. 

Though the Barbar and Zanata chiefs had attached themselves to 
Almuhdy, on account of the bad management and declining fortune of 
Abdurrahman, yet the faction of the house ofUmmaiya reproached them 
with the assistance they had given to Almansur so as to enable him to 
seize the government ; and with the support they had continued to 
afford his sons. The hearts of the populace, too, were enraged against 
them to such a degree, that had it not been for the great number of their 
followers, they would at once have been exterminated. Not only, how- 
ever, did the people express their hatred of them, but the Khalif forbade 
their riding on horseback or carrying arms ; some of them were even 
refused admission at the gate of the palace, and the houses of others 
were plundered by the mob. On this occasion, though Almuhdy made 
an apology to them and caused to be executed such as were suspected 



116 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



of invading their property, yet his dislike of them was notorious ; as 
well as the inadequate manner in which he rewarded them for their as- 
sistance. It was, moreover, intimated to them that Almuhdy meant 
to proscribe them : the most resolute, therefore, met in secret and con- 
sulted together on making Hisham son of Sulaiman, Khalif. This cir- 
cumstance being divulged to the heads of the government, they imme- 
diately seized the opportunity of accomplishing their purpose by ex- 
citing the mob against the Barbars, and forcing them to quit the city. 
They, also, laid hands on Hisham, with his brother Abu Bakr, and 
brought them to Almuhdy ; who caused them to be beheaded : but, 
Sulaiman, son of their brother, Alhakam, had taken refuge in the army 
of the Barbars, which was assembled on the outside of Cordova. Being 
indignant at Almuhdy, the Barbars then proclaimed Sulaiman as Kha- 
lif, giving him the honorary name of Almustain Billah ; and departed 
with him to the frontiers of Toledo, where they solicited and obtained 
the aid of the son of Alfonsus.* United with his forces, the Barbars 
returned to Cordova ; and, encountering Almuhdy, who had led out 
against them the people of the city and the principal men of the state, 
they defeated him, and slew more than twenty thousand of his followers ; 
amongst the slain being many of the chiefs of the land, and the mini- 
sters of the great mosque. This battle took place about the end of the 
year 400 ; f when Almustain entered Cordova ; and his opponent, in 
turn, betaking himself to Toledo, obtained the assistance of the son of 
Alfonsus.J Almuhdy then led an army back to Cordova ; and, on his 
approach, Almustain, with the Barbars, fled to Akabatu-1 Bakar, with- 
out the city ; whence they spread themselves over the open country and 
plundered it at discretion. In a little time, however, they directed their 
inarch towards Algesiras ; but, being pursued by Almuhdy, with the 
Christians, they turned back on their pursuers, and having defeated 
them in battle, followed them to Cordova. In this crisis of affairs, Al- 
muhdy brought forth Hishamu-1 Muwaiyad, took the oath of allegiance 
to him, and assumed for himself the office of Hajib, imagining that this 

* Sancho, Count of Castile. f August 1010 of Christ. 

I More likely of some other Christian princes, as related by Mariana. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



117 



expedient might be of use to his cause : but such was not the event ; 
for the inhabitants, fearing that the besiegers would storm the city, ex- 
cited the people of the palace and the attendants of Almuwaiyad to 
attack Almuhdy, who was slain in the commotion. 

The people of Cordova then rallied round Almuwaiyad ; and, Wazi- 
hu-1 Aamiry, who had been the chief mover of the attack on Almuhdy, 
was appointed Hajib. The siege of the city, however, was continued ; 
but no impression was made on it, till the villages and open country 
around being wasted, the necessaries of life failed, and the blockade 
became very severe. In this state of things, Almustain sought the as- 
sistance of the Castillians : but Hisham and his Hajib, Wazih, sent an 
embassy to prevent the success of this application, by offering to give 
up all the strong places on the frontiers of Castille, which Almansur 
had conquered ; and this measure diverted the Count from his design 
of joining Almustain. The latter, however, maintained the siege, till 
in the year 403 * the city was obliged to surrender ; when Hisham was 
privately slain, and the conquerors avenged the cause of their wives 
and children on the inhabitants of the place. f 

Almustain now thought his power fully established ; but, the Bar- 
bars and the servants of the Khalif seized the governments of the great 
cities, and obtained the appointments of rulers over extensive provinces; 
as did Badis in Granada, Albarzaly in Carmona, Harun in Xeres, and 
others in like manner: in a short time, the bond of empire became so 
loose, that the descendants of the noble families established themselves, 
as independant princes, in different parts of the country ; thus, Ibn 
Abbad fixed himself in Seville ; Ibnu-1 Aftas, in Badajos ; Ibn Dhilniin, 
in Toledo ; Ibn Aby Aamir, in Valencia ; Ibn Hud, in Saragossa ; 
Mujahidu-1 Aamiry, in Denia ; and the like. 

In this contention for dominion, Aliyu-bn Ha mud, who was a de- 
scendant of Idris, King of Fez, and founder of that city, having, 
as well as his brother Kasim, crossed the straits with the Barbars to 

* Which began on the 23d of July 1012. 

f It is elsewhere remarked that the decay of Cordova began on this occasion ; many of its 
ornaments and principal buildings being then demolished by the Barbars, 



118 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



Spain, set up his claim to royalty ; and, being supported by his coun- 
trymen, he took possession of Cordova in the year 407,* when the 
learned and eloquent Almustain was slain. On obtaining possession 
of the throne, Aly took the surname of Annasir ; but that part of the 
army which was composed of slaves, together with some of the people 
from Africa, in a little while rose up against him, and inaugurated 
Almurtazy, brother of Almuhdy : shortly afterwards, however, Almur- 
tazy was dispatched, and Aliyu-bn Hamud occupied the government 
nearly two years ; during the first eight months of which he acted with 
laudable energy in correcting the licentiousness of the people, especially 
of the Barbars : on learning, however, that the Andalusians, who could 
not tolerate the rule of the family of Hamud, on account of the Barbars, 
had raised up Almurtazy, son of Abdurrahman, in the eastern part of 
the country, with the design of restoring the sovereignty to the house 
of Marwan, he changed his conduct entirely, laboured to depopulate 
Cordova and to destroy its inhabitants, endeavoured to prevent the fu- 
ture restoration of sovereignty to their Imams in it, connived at the 
rapacity and oppression of the Barbars, insulted and plundered the 
chief men of the place, and not only expelled the people, but demolished 
the buildings, so that the ruin of the city proceeded with as much rapidity 
as it had before done at the worst times: the affections of men became of 
course universally estranged from him ; and, on the tenth of the month 
Dhu-1 Kaada in the year 408, f he was murdered in the bath by three 
Sclavonians. after reigning near two years, or twenty-one months and 
six days, as some have asserted. 

Kasim, an elder brother of Aly, then seized the government, and was 
surnamed Almamun. From his proximity, as governor of Seville, to 
Cordova, he anticipated his deceased brother's son Yahya, who ruled 
at Ceuta ; but the Barbars, to whom Yahya appealed for the rights of 
his father, inclined to him. Having, therefore, conveyed an army over 
to Malaga, where his brother Idrls had ruled, since the death of their 
father, he sent his brother to Ceuta ; and, on his advance to Cordova, 
Kasim fled, when he entered it on the 28th of Rabiu-1 Akhir in 

* Which began on the 10th of June, 1016. + About the 30th March A. C. 1018. 



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119 



412,* and assumed the sovereignty, as well as the name Almuataly. His 
uncle, Almamun, however, escaped to Seville ; where he was acknow- 
ledged by the Cadhy Ibn Abbad ; and, having collected there an army 
of Barbars, he returned the following year to Cordova, which he re- 
gained on the 19th of Dhu-1 Kaada, in the absence of Ahnuataly at 
Malaga. The latter then made himself master of Algesiras s and his 
brother Idris got possession of Tangiers in Africa ; which city Almamun 
had fortified as a place of refuge for himself, and in which he had 
lodged his treasures. The intelligence of this event troubled him 
greatly : and the people of Cordova, rebelling against him, abolished 
his government there ; and, on the 15th of the month Ramazan in the 
year 414, inaugurated Abdurrahman, brother of Almuhdy, as Khalif, 
by the title of Almustazhar Billah. In consequence of which, he be- 
sieged that city, but in vain. He then retired again to Seville ; but as Ibn 
Abbad had assumed the government of that place, he was refused ad- 
mittance ; and his son, whom he had left there, was brought out and 
delivered to him. Almamun next proceeded to Xeres ; but the Barbars 
quitted him and joined Almuataly, whom they inaugurated Khalif in 
415 : afterwards, the latter took his uncle, Almamun, captive in an en- 
gagement, and kept him in prison at Malaga till the year 427, when 
he died, either a natural death, or, as some say, by strangulation : and 
his children, also, he confined in like manner. 

Almustazhar enjoyed the throne at Cordova only forty-seven days ; 
when Muhammad son of Abdurrahman, son of Ubaidullah, of the same 
family of Ummaiya, slew him and seized the government there under 
the name of Almustakfy : but, after a reign of sixteen months , the 
people of Cordova deposed him, and in the year 416 submitted to Al- 
muataly, abovementioned, of the house of Hamud, who appointed Ibn 
Ataf,f his governor over them. In the following year, however, they 
revolted against Almuataly ; and the Vizir, Abu Muhammad, son of 
Jahwar, who was the chief man in Cordova, took the oath of allegiance 
to Hisham son of Muhammad, brother of Almurtazy, in the year 418 : 
but, owing to intestine civil disturbances, he did not return from Lerida 

* About the 10th of August, A. C. 1021. f Or, perhaps, Itaf. 



120 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



on the frontiers, whither he had repaired, till the year 420 ; when he 
assumed the government at Cordova under the honorary name of Al- 
muatidd Billah. Against him Almuataly then sent forces, and besieged 
the city of Cordova, till in 426 the army deposed Hisham ; who fled 
back to Lerida, where he died in 428 : and with him was finally extin- 
guished the dynasty of the house of Ummaiya in Spain, which had con- 
tinued from the year 138 of the Hijra to the death of Hisham, a period 
of two hundred and ninety years. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 121 



CHAPTER IV. 

ACCOUNT OF THE MAHOMETANS IN SPAIN, FROM THE EXTINCTION OF 
THE DYNASTY OF UMMAIYA, TILL THE FALL OF GRANADA. 



Contentions for the Throne — Muhammadan Power in Spain divided into petty 
Kingdoms — The Banu Abbad, Kings of Seville — The Banu Dhilnun, Kings of 
Toledo — Sovereigns of Saragossa — Of Badajos — War between Alfonso King 
of Castille and Leon, and Ibn Abbad Sovereign of Seville — Battle between the 
Christians and Moslems — Alfonso totally defeated — Battle of Alar k — Alfonso 
again defeated — Almutawakkil, an encourager of Literature — His Authority 
contested — Successes of Ferdinand King of Castille — Revolutions in the King- 
dom of Granada — Further successes of Ferdinand — The Christians defeated 
before Granada — Gibraltar taken from the Christians — Further Successes of 
the Christians — Indolence of Abu 7 Hasan, Sovereign of Granada — Contests 
respecting the Succession — The Christians defeated at Malaga — Defeat of the 
Moslems — Successes of Ferdinand — Civil War in Granada — Veles besieged, 
and captured by the Christians — Siege of Malaga — Rapid Successes of Fer- 
dinand — Granada besieged — The City surrenders — Terms of the Capitulation 
— Persecutions of the Moslems by Ferdinand. 

O n the deposition of Hisham from the sovereignty at Cordova, as 
before mentioned, Almuataly regained possession of that city ; and, 
his authority continued unshaken, till his adherents, at the instigation 
of Ibn Abbad, the usurper at Seville, slew him in the year 429.* Idris, 
surnamed Almutaiyad, brother of the deceased, was then called to the 
throne, and he dispatched his forces against Ismaelu-brt Abbad, with 
whose head they returned, after some actions : but he himself died two 
days subsequent to this, in the year 431. 

* Beginning on the 14th October 1037 of Christ. 
R 



122 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



At his decease, his son Yahya was proclaimed, but his authority was 
not established ; and Almustansir, son of Almuataly, was raised to the 
throne : the first died at Comares, whither he had fled, having (it is 
said) been privately assassinated ; the latter perished by poison, which 
Yahya's sister is reported to have given him, out of revenge for her 
brother. Idris, son of Almuataly, was then brought out of prison at 
Malaga, and acknowledged sovereign there, as well as at Granada and 
Carmona ; but this prince, surnamed Aiaaly, was deposed in the year 
438 ; and his cousin, Almuhdy, was raised to the throne. At the de- 
cease of the latter, which took place in 444, allegiance was sworn to 
Idris, surnamed AlmuwafFak ; but he was never recognised as Khalif : 
and the deposed Alaaly, having returned from Comares to Malaga, re- 
sumed the government, and let loose his mercenary soldiers * on the 
inhabitants, whom he hated, so that many people fled from that city. 
Alaaly died in 446 or 447, when Muhammad son of Idris was pro- 
claimed by the title of Almustaaly ; but, in 449, he was forced from 
Malaga by Idris son of Hubun ; and fleeing to Almeria, he was invited 
thence to Melilla, where he retired and continued as sovereign of that 
place till his death in 460. t 

When Kasim, son of Ha mud, surnamed Almamun, was emprisoned 
at Malaga in the year 414, his son Muhammad escaped from confine- 
ment to Algesiras, of which he assumed the sovereignty ; and, taking 
the name Almuatasim, he continued to rule there till his death in 440: J 
afterwards, his son Kasim u-1 Wathik governed till he died in 450. § 
Muatazadu-bn Abbad then got possession of Algesiras ; and Ibn Ju- 
yush ruled at Malaga, though much straitened by Ibn Abbad. 

In the year 456 of the Hijra (1064 of the Christian aera) Balbastro, 
in the country of Bartania near to Saragossa, was besieged and taken 
by the Christians. The inhabitants were obliged to surrender on ac- 

* Rather slaves, formed into a standing army; for these princes kept such forces, as well to re- 
sist the Barbars as the Andalusians : and, these slaves are sometimes described to be blacks from 
the interior of Africa. 

f Beginning on the 11th of November, 1067 of Christ. 

X Beginning 16th June, 1048. § Beginning 28th of February, 1058. 



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123 



count of a stoppage of their aqueduct : and, after they had capitulated, 
fifty thousand of them were slain by the Christians. In the following 
year, however, the Moslems retook the city by storm. 

The sovereignty of the land then became divided amongst the chiefs 
and Emirs of the Barbars and Arabs ; who were not only in a constant 
state of warfare amongst themselves, but who also sought the aid of the 
Christian despot against each other. Of the most celebrated of these 
petty dynasties was that of the Banu Abbad, who ruled over Seville and 
the western part of Andalusia : but the fame of Almuatamidu-bn Abbad 
of this house is so spread abroad both in the east and the west, as to 
require no comment. From the Banu Jahwar, who, under the appella- 
tion of Vizirs, ruled at Cordova, he conquered that city, and made his 
son governor of it: and other neighbouring princes, like Ibn Badis at 
Granada, Ibnu-1 Aftas at Badajos, Ibn Sumadih at Almeria, and others, 
he forced by war to solicit peace with him, and to study to court his 
favour. All these princes, however, sought to conciliate the Christian 
tyrant, and to ward off his attacks by paying tribute to him, till the 
arrival of Yusufu-bn Tasafln, sovereign ofMarocco ; who extended his 
empire greatly, removed these princes, and became the protector of 
Andalusia. 

Besides the kingdoms above-mentioned, into which the Mahometan 
power in Spain became divided, the Banu Dhilnun established a very 
considerable one at Toledo, on the interior frontier of the country ; where 
they attained to the summit of luxury and pride. Almamun, of this 
house, whose power was become great among the neighbouring states, 
built a famous palace at Toledo, in which was a lake ; and, in the 
midst of the lake, a vaulted room of stained glass, adorned with gold, 
over which a sheet of water was poured. Into that room the Prince 
could enter, untouched by the water, and sit with tapers burning, if 
desired. This Prince, also, gave a marriage feast, called Jadharu-d 
Dhununy ; which became as proverbially celebrated in the west, as that 
held by the Khalif Almamun, on his marriage with Buran, is in the 
east : and he not only took Cordova from Ibn Abbad, whose son Abu 
Amrii he slew, as well as Valencia from the sons of Ibn Aby Aamir ; 



124 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



but, he had also many conflicts with the Christian despot. In the days, 
however, of Alkadiru-bn DhTlniin, grandson of Almamun, the power 
of the Tyrant becoming great, through the extinction of the Khilafat, 
and the weakness of the Arabs, he siezed all the open country ; and, 
after a siege of seven years, obliged Ibn Dhilniin to surrender Toledo 
on Tuesday the 10th of Muharram, or at the middle of that month, or on 
Wednesday the 1st of Safar, in 478; for there are such various dates 
given to this event. It is reported that the wheat, which had been 
preserved by the people of Toledo in store for fifty years, happened to 
spoil before they capitulated : and, when terms were agreed on, the 
sovereign Alkadir Billah marched out in a most pitiable condition, with 
an astrolabe in his hand. Thence he proceeded to Valencia, which 
city Alfonsus had agreed to assist him in obtaining ; but, notwithstand- 
ing the aid of the Christians, he fell in his attack on that place. 

Another family, which attained to royalty, was that of the Banii Hud, 
who reigned over Saragossa and its dependencies. The most renowned 
of this dynasty were Muktadir Billah, and his son Yiisufu-l Mutamin : 
the latter of whom was so devoted to the study of mathematics, that he 
wrote, amongst other books on that science, the work called Kitabu-1 
Istikmal wa-1 Munadir (book on keeping entire, and on comparison or 
equation.*) He died in the year in which Toledo fell, and was suc- 
ceeded by his son, Almustain Ahmad ; under whom was fought the 
battle of Huesca in the year 489 : when Almustain, having advanced 
with his forces to relieve that place, which the Christian Tyrant was 
besieging, was defeated with the loss of nearly ten thousand men. 
Afterwards, this Prince fell in an engagement with the Tyrant, without 
the walls of Saragossa, in the year 503 : f and he was succeeded by his 
son, Imaduddaula ; but being expelled from Saragossa by the Christian 
in 512,$ Imaduddaula was followed in the government by Saifuddaula 
his son : this latter, however, was forced to yield his city to the Tyrant 
on the 4th of Ramazan in 512 ; § and, having removed with his family 
to Toledo, he died there. 

* Apparently from these terms, on algebra. \ Which began on the 24th April, A. C. 1118. 
f Beginning on the 31st July, 1109. § About the 19th of December in 1118 of Christ. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



125 



Of the Princes of the house of Alaftas, which reigned at Badajos, 
were Muzaffar, author of the work entitled MuzafFary, in near fifty 
volumes ; and Mutawakkil, who was slain by the army of Yusufu-bn 
TasafTn. 

This monarch,* who had established a powerful dynasty in the 
western part of Africa, and built in that region the two cities of Ma- 
rocco and Tilimsan, had been meditating a descent on Spain, and had 
prepared ships for the transporting of his army over the straits. On 
learning his design, the Moslem sovereigns of Spain were alarmed ; as 
they were in some measure aware of the power and warlike abilities of 
Yiisuf ; and they began to fear that they should be forced to contend 
not only with the Christians, to the north, but with the forces of Africa 
in the opposite direction : they, therefore, adopted the device of send- 
ing an embassy to Yiisuf, to entreat him to avoid passing through their 
territories, if he had determined to come over, as they were really under 
his dominion : Yiisuf, in return, gave them assurance of his protection, 
and promised them assistance against the common enemy. Being in- 
formed of this application to Yusuf, Alfonso King of Castille and Leon 
resolved on attacking the Moslems ; and he took from them many 

* Mariana, the Spanish historian, gives an account of the origin of this prince, entitled to just 
as much credit as his genealogy of the houses of Ummaiya and Alabbas, which successively ruled 
over the Mahometans in Asia. The dynasty of Yusuf is called that of the Banu Matuna. He 
was at first a comrade or follower of Abu Bakru-s Sanhajy, who led a people called Almulaththamun, 
because they constantly wore veils or coverings over their faces, from the deserts on the south of 
Barbary, against the Zanata tribe of Barbars, and subdued the land from Tilimsan to the shore of 
the ocean ; after the conquest of Sigilmessa, however, which took place in the year 453 of the 
Hijra, Abu Bakr left Yusuf as governor there, and returned to his native country, Yusuf then 
pushed his conquests to the west, and subdued the Zanata tribe of Barbars, who ruled at Fez and 
in the neighbouring districts of Africa. He built Marocco on a spot before famous as a receptacle 
for robbers, and made it the capital of his dominions. The term, Murabit (Moravides), generally 
applied to this dynasty, signifies bound together, " colleagued ": but the appellation, Allamtuny, 
from the desert called Lamta or Lamtuna, whence these people seem to have come, is also given 
them. The reasons on which Mariana founds the origin of this war, seem, too, as far removed from 
the causes adduced here, as his account of the fate of Ibn Abbad is erroneous : for, this prince was 
not killed in battle, as the Spanish historian relates, but transported, with his wife and family, to 
Aghmat, a town in the vicinity of Marocco, where he died. See also Cardonne, vol. ii. p. 144. 



126 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



fortresses ; amongst which was the city of Toledo. After the reduction 
of that place, Alfonso felt himself so strong, that he refused to accept 
the customary tribute which Ibn Abbad, King of Cordova and Seville, 
in common with the other Moslem princes, paid him ; and he threatened 
to besiege Cordova, unless Ibn Abbad would surrender to him all the 
high-land forts, so that the Moslems should retain the open and low 
part of the country only : and his envoy, dispatched with this message, 
came accompanied by a large escort of near five hundred horse. Indig- 
nant at this proposal, Ibn Abbad, who had placed the officers of the 
escort under charge of his own people, commanded them to be killed ; 
and, calling the envoy into his presence, he beat him till his eyes fell 
out: only three of the attendants escaping to inform Alfonso, who was at 
that time advancing towards Cordova. On learning this unexpected 
occurrence, he returned to Toledo to strengthen his army and to collect 
machines and instruments for carrying on a siege. Another author, 
however, says that Ibn Abbad being engaged in war with Ibn Sumadih, 
sovereign of Almeria, had delayed sending the tribute to Alfonso ; for 
which reason, the latter was so enraged when it arrived, that he 
demanded the cession of some forts in addition ; and, moreover, that his 
wife Constancia, who was then pregnant, should be allowed to reside 
in the palace of Azzahra, which the Khalif, Annasir Lidinillah, had 
built on the west side of Cordova, till her accouchement ; and that she 
should be allowed the use of the great mosque in that city, which oc- 
cupied the ground where a church of great estimation among the 
Christians originally stood, for the purpose of her lying-in. Alfonso 
had been induced to make this demand at the instigation of the bishops 
and physicians ; who recommended the measure, that the Queen might 
enjoy the salubrity of Azzahra, as well as the sanctity of the church, 
till she should be delivered. The negociator for this indulgence was a 
Jew,* one of Alfonso's ministers : and, when he not only ventured to 

* Called by Ibnu-1 Lubana, Salbib or Salbab : and, that author describes the origin of the war 
in this manner. When, in the year 475, the Jew came, accompanied by some of the Christian 
chiefs, to receive the usual tribute, he was lodgtd with his escort in one of the gates of the city, and 
the money was sent him by the hands of a number of Ibn Abbad's nobles : he, however, refused to 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



127 



repeat the demand to Ibn Abbad a third time, though he had been 
refused in such a manner as could leave him no hope of success, but 
made use of harsh language on the occasion, that Prince instantly 
knocked out his brains, and caused him to be crucified, head down- 
wards, in Cordova. When intelligence of this event reached Alfonso, 
he engaged himself by a most solemn oath to carry the war to Seville, 
and to besiege Ibn Abbad in his palace. For this purpose, he equipped 
two armies ; the one of which he directed to proceed to the province of 
Beja, in the west of Andalusia, and from thence by Laila to Seville; 
whilst, by a different route, he himself led another army ; and they 
both proceeded, wasting the country, till they met at the appointed 
place, on the bank of the river, opposite the palace of the King at 
Seville. 

Ibn Abbad, however, had in the mean time dispatched an embassy 
to the Sultan of Marocco : * and, learning that it was favourably re- 
ceived, he had sent a fleet from Seville to Ceuta, to act under Yusuf's 
orders. The latter, moreover, hastened his departure from Africa; and, 
having reached Algesiras, he landed his troops and stores at that place, f 
which he occupied as his depot. It is said, that the Sultan took the 
precaution of bringing camels with him, knowing that European horses 
would flee from them : but, whether this account be correct or not, he 
disembarked such an army as induced all the Mahometan princes and 
people to flock to him : and, on the other hand, Alfonso assembled all 
the forces which it was in his power to collect from Gallicia and France ; 
the priests and monks raising their crosses and displaying their gospels, 
to engage the people in the contest. As soon as his preparations were 

accepi it, saying, " By God, I do not take it in this manner; for it is not required of him except 
es by way of derision ; and after this year it shall not be accepted, unless from the chiefs of the 
ee land ; return it to him." The money was, therefore, restored, and the jew's speech related to 
Ibn Abbad ; who caused the jew to be crucified, and the Christians to be imprisoned, notwith- 
standing the jew's offer to redeem himself at a vast price. 

* Other authors say that Ibn Abbad himself hastened over the straits to Yusuf, who was then 
engaged in the siege of Ceuta; and, that, after obtaining that monarch's promise of support, he 
hastened back to stir up the princes of Andalusia, also, to his assistance. 

f In the month Muharram of the year 479 of the Hijra. 



128 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



complete, Alfonso hastened to execute his design of carrying the war 
into the country of his adversaries ; that, if he should fail in the attempt, 
he might have the passes of the Sierras to cover his retreat ; but, in case 
he should be victorious, that he might seize the opportunity to subdue the 
whole of the land. Having determined on his line of attack, he marched 
with the choicest of his troops, consisting of forty thousand men clad 
in coats of mail, each of which had his peculiar followers or attendants ; 
so that, great as was the army of the Moslems, it was still inferior to 
that of the Christians. Finding the passes of the Sierras guarded, Al- 
fonso turned off with his army to the west : and Yusuf, with Ibn Abbad, 
inarching to encounter him, had arrived at Badajos, when intelligence 
reached them of his near approach. On a Wednesday, the spies re- 
ported that he was close at hand ; and the Moslems made ready for 
battle : but, instead of advancing to the attack, Alfonso had first recourse 
to artifice and deceit ; and the people returned to their tents for that 
night. On the following morning, which was Thursday, Alfonso sent 
to Ibn Abbad, saying, " to-morrow is Friday, your holiday, and Sun- 
" day is ours ; let the battle, therefore, take place on the intermediate 
" day, which is Saturday." When this communication was received, 
Ibn Abbad immediately communicated it to the Sultan ; and intimated 
at the same time that it was intended to deceive, as Alfonso designed 
to engage them on the Friday ; he therefore advised the Sultan to make 
ready for battle on the morrow, and to keep the men prepared all 
day. Soon afterwards, spies arrived from within the tent of Alfonso 3 
who reported that they had heard him say, to his followers; " Ibn 
' c Abbad is the stirrer up of this war ; and the people of the deserts, 
" however intelligent and brave they may be, are unacquainted with 
" this country, and are led by him ; direct, therefore, the attack against 
" him, and quit him not ; for, if he is defeated, the victory over the 
" Africans will not be difficult." Ibn Abbad then imparted this intel- 
ligence to the Sultan ; who promised to join him. On the morning of 
the battle, which was Friday the 15th of Rajab in 479,* the Sultan 
commanded one of his generals to proceed with his division, and set 

* The 26th of October 1086 of Christ. According to another account, however, it was in the 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



129 



fire to the camp of the enemy : but Alfonso had commenced the attack 
on Ibn Abbad with all his force ; and, though the latter performed 
prodigies of valour, in maintaining his position, being wounded in three 
places, and having lost three horses under him, yet part of his troops 
had fled in despair, and the remainder were beginning to give way, 
when the Sultan at length arrived on the field of battle. At his ap- 
proach, Alfonso directed the attack of his army against him, but was 
repulsed and driven back to his camp : the Sultan and Ibn Abbad then 
impelled their united forces against Alfonso ; who, after a brave re- 
sistance, in which he was wounded in the shoulder, so as to be a cripple 
during the rest of his life, was obliged to flee and to retire to a hill 
behind his encampment, with about five hundred horse only. Of the 
heads of the Christians, the Moslems then raised a tower, from which 
the hours of public prayer were proclaimed. The place where this de- 
cisive battle took place is called Zalaka,* and is situate in the vicinity 
of Badajos.f The whole of Alfonso's army is reported to have amounted 
to three hundred thousand men ; of which very few escaped. 

Yusuf returned to Africa soon after this battle ; but he visited Spain 
again the second year following, and took possession of Granada: he 
then left an army in Spain, under the command of Sir Ibn Aby Bakr, 
one of his Emirs ; who shortly informed Yusuf that he had subdued the 
fortresses on the frontiers, and placed garrisons in them ; but he inti- 
mated, that it was not right for his army to undergo all the hardships 
of war, whilst the princes of Andalusia were attentive only to pleasure 
and luxury. In consequence of which representation, he was ordered 
to send the Kings from Spain to Africa ; and to expel by force of arms 
those who should disobey. This order he executed ; and placed the 
officers of his army in the different governments of the country. Even 
Ibn. Abbad, the chief cause of Yusuf s coming to Spain, and his asso- 
ciate in the war with Alfonso, was carried captive to Africa in 484 of 

1st decade of Rajab ; but both these dates differ from that given by Cardonne, which is the 10th of 
Ramazan 480, or a year and about two months later. 
* Mariana calls it Caealla. 

t Another author says, at the distance of four parasangs from Badajos. 



130 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



the Hijra, and kept in confinement at A glim at near Marocco till his 
death in 488.* 

It is, however, said, that when Yusuf was in Spain the first time, the 
advocates of the law applied to him to abolish the taxes and exactions, 
which were imposed on the people of Spain contrary to the Mahometan 
law.f To this application Yfisuf attended, and his commands were 
observed by the different princes, whilst he remained in the country ; 
but, after his departure, they returned to their accustomed practices. 
In consequence of these proceedings, he repassed the straits with an 
army, and deposed those petty sovereigns, whose territories he occupied ; 
so that he became master of Cordova, Seville, Badajos, Granada, and 
other parts of the country. 

The authority which Yusuf thus acquired in Spain was retained by 
his descendants till the subversion of the dynasty of Matuna in Africa : 
the Emir Ibrahim, however, son of Yusuf, was not so fortunate as his 
father, being defeated by the Christians at Cutanda, in the province of 
Saragossa, with the loss of twenty thousand men. This battle happened 
in the year 514 of the Hijra. $ 

Yusuf died in the year 500, § and was succeeded by his son, Aly ; who 
imitated the conduct of his father, though inferior to him in some re- 
spects. He, however, repelled the enemy from Andalusia, for a consi- 
derable time, till it pleased God to raise up against him in Africa, 
Muhammad son of Tumarat, surnamed Almahady ; who founded the 
dynasty of the Muhadites. Ishaac, son of Aly, was slain by Abdulmu- 
min, the successor of Ibn Tumarat ; who not only made himself master 
of Marocco, Almahadia, Ifrikia, and all the dominions of the fallen 

* 1095 of Christ. 

f The princes of Andalusia, too, at this time were accused of wine-drinking and excessive in- 
dulgence in luxuries of every kind ; but especially Ibn Abbad. With respect to this latter sove- 
reign, it is related, that a man of Santarem brought him a present of four apples, each of which 
was five spans in circumference : and the man said that the common size of apples with them was 
smaller j but when they wished to have them of this magnitude, they cut away the roots, and suf- 
fered only ten or less to grow on the tree, the branches of which they supported with props of wood. 

+ Which began on the 2d of April, 1120 of Christ. 

§ Which began on the 2d of September, 1106 of Christ. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



131 



house of Matuna in Africa ; but great part of Andalusia submitted to 
his sway ; though the Banu Mardanls retained some possessions in the 
east of the country. 

In the year 524 * of the Hijra, Tudela and its sister city Tarazona 
were subdued by the Christians : and in 542 f of the same Mm, Al- 
meria was taken possession of by them ; but they were afterwards ex- 
pelled from the latter. 

Before the arms of the house of Matuna, the divided sovereignties 
of Spain had disappeared, as in the manner above related ; but when 
that dynasty was attacked by the Muhadites in Africa, Spain re- 
lapsed into nearly the same disunion as it had before experienced. 
Abdulmumin, however, the second Muhadite prince, first sent over 
the straits twelve thousand horse to the relief of Cordova, which was 
besieged in the year 545, by Alfonso King of Toledo and the Galli- 
cias, with an army of forty thousand horse : in consequence of the 
arrival of which succour, Alfonso raised the siege ; and the city was 
given up to the commander of Abdulmumin's forces there. In the 
year following, he sent over from Africa to Spain another army of 
twenty thousand men ; to thp leader of which, Maimiin, sovereign of 
Granada, with Ibn Hamshaka and others, submitted : but they insti- 
gated him against Ibn Mardanis, sovereign of the east of Andalusia; 
the latter, however, being informed of his enemies' design, applied for 
aid to the Lord of Barcelona, who dispatched ten thousand Europeans 
to his assistance. Abdulmumin's general, having learned this circum- 
stance on his march against Ibn Mardanls, returned and laid siege to 
Almeria, then in the possession of the Christians ; but he was obliged, 
from the want of provisions, to abandon that attempt, and to return to 
Seville. About the same time, Abdulmumin came to Ceuta, where he 
fitted out fleets against Spain, and collected forces for that country and 
in 547 he went against Mahadia, and obtained possession of it ; he also 
conquered Ifrikia, and enlarged his empire to a considerable extent. 
Afterwards, his forces routed the army of Ibn Mardanis and Ibn Ham- 
shaka, with great slaughter, in the plain of Granada, though these 
* Began 15th December, 1129. f Began the 2d of June, 1147 of Christ, 



132 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



chiefs had obtained the assistance of the Christians : and he got pos- 
session of Granada in 557.* Abdulmumin was succeeded by his son, 
Abu Yaacub Yusuf ; who crossed the straits to Spain in 566, with one 
hundred thousand horse ; and, after receiving the homage of the sons 
of Ibn Mardanis, who ruled in Murcia, and subduing the land to the 
gates of Toledo, he returned to Marocco ; but he again passed the sea 
in the year 580 of the Hijra, and died the same year at the siege of 
Santarem, in the west of Spain. At his death, his son, Yaacubu-1 
Mansfir, a truly valiant and just prince, who displayed the glory of the 
Muhadite dynasty, obtained the empire ; and he triumphed over the 
Franks on many occasions, but especially at the battle of Alark, where 
the victory equalled, if not surpassed, that of Zalaka. This battle was 
gained on Thursday the 9th of Shaaban, in the year 591 ; f and the 
place from which it is named is in the district of Badajos.J The loss 
of the enemy in the battle is said to amount to one hundred and forty-six 
thousand in killed, and thirty thousand taken prisoners ; besides an 
immense quantity of tents, horses, mules, asses, and the like ; as the 
infidels, having no camels, brought those animals to convey their bag- 
gage. The booty in jewels and money, too, was incalculable ; and 
sixty thousand coats of mail are said to have been gained by the con- 
querors. In consequence of this vast plunder, a captive was sold for a 
dirhem ; a sword, for half a dirhem ; a horse, for five dirhems ; and an 
ass, for one dirhem : Yaacub having divided the spoils among the Mos- 
lems agreeably to the sacred law. From this defeat a few of the Franks 
fled to Calatrava, which place Yaacub besieged and took : but Alfonso, 
King of the Christians, escaped to Toledo in a miserable condition ; 
when he shaved his head and beard, turned his cross upside down, and 
swore that he would neither sleep on a bed, approach a woman, nor 
mount a horse, till he had obtained revenge. With this object in view, 
he collected troops from the distant islands and countries, and was as- 
siduous in the preparation of necessaries ; but, having encountered and 



* A,C. 1162. f About 19th of July, 1195 of Christ. 

X According to another account, however, the battle happened near the fortress of Rabah, now 
ealled Calatrava, to the north of Cordova. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



133 



defeated him a second time, Yaacub pursued him to Toledo ; which 
city he attacked with engines of war, and besieged till it was on the 
point of surrendering. In this state of peril and distress, the mother of 
Alfonso, accompanied by his wives and daughters, came forth and with 
tears entreated Yaacfib to spare the place. Being moved with com- 
passion, he not only granted their request ; but, to shew his respect for 
them, presented them with many jewels and other valuable articles. 
Shortly afterwards, he returned to Cordova, where he remained a month 
to divide the spoils ; and, he received there an embassy from Alfonso 
on the subject of peace, which he accorded : so that the people of Spain 
enjoyed rest for some time.* 

To this Prince, the Sultan Salahuddin, son of Aiyub, sent to solicit 
aid against the Franks who had attacked him on the coast of Palestine : 
but, as Salahuddin had not in his letter given Yaacub the title of 
<e Commander of the Faithful/' his embassy failed of its object. Such, 
however, was the disposition of Yaacub that, offended as he was with 
Salahuddin, to whom he returned a despicable present, yet he enriched 
the envoy of the latter; having given him on one occasion, for a poem 
of forty verses, forty thousand pieces of money, being at the rate of one 
thousand for each verse : he, moreover, added a compliment, by saying, 
" this we give thee for thy learning and poetry/' Salahuddin' s am- 
bassador left Spain in the year 588. f 

The seat of empire of these Muhadite princes was Marocco ; but, 
through their proximity to Spain, they were enabled frequently to pass 
the straits, and to carry on war against the infidels. The different pro- 
vinces of the country, also, they parted out amongst their own adhe- 
rents. After Yaacub, by whom Alfonso was entirely defeated at Alark, 
as before related, his son and successor, Muhammad Annasir, who was 
unfortunate both for the Moslems in general and for Spain in particular, 

* It is elsewhere recorded, that Yaacub returned from the siege of Toledo to Seville, where he 
remained till the year 593 ; but, that he then invadedagain the territories of the Franks, without 
the enemy's being able to meet him in the field; and, that in consequence of the rising up of a 
rebel against him in Africa, who was supported by the Banii Aiyub, Sultans of Egypt, he at length 
yielded to the solicitations of the Christians for peace. His death happened in 595 of the Hijra. 

f 1192 of Christ. 



134 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



came over from Africa in the year 609,* and collected, of Spaniards and 
Africans, an army in the number of which he gloried ; for it is said to 
have amounted to six hundred thousand fighting men : but it pleased 
God to prove the Moslems at a place called Akab,| where so many 
suffered martyrdom, that of this vast host not one thousand are reported 
to have escaped. This defeat is ascribed to the bad policy of Annasir 
and his Vizir ; who manifested their contempt of the Andalusians, 
though these knew best how to contend with the Franks ; and, by so 
doing, enraged many and alienated their minds from the cause. But, 
however it was occasioned, it maybe regarded as the chief cause of the suc- 
ceeding weakness of Africa and of Andalusia: as to the former, through 
the great depopulation of its towns and districts ; and, as to the latter, 
through the acquisitions which the enemy was consequently enabled 
to make on it. For when the Miihadite empire after Annasir became 
convulsed, the princes of the royal family, who under the title ofSaiyids 
had been appointed governors of the different parts of Spain, each 
seized the opportunity of extending his own power and sway ; and, in 
the enfeebled state of the government at Marocco, they came at length 
not only to hire the troops of the common enemy, but to surrender to 
him the fortresses of the Moslems, for the purpose of obtaining his aid 
against each other. 

Annasir died in the year 610,X and was succeeded by his son 
Yusufu-1 Mustansir, who gave himself up to ease ; and the empire lost 
its force in his days. After him, who died in 620, § his father's uncle, 
Abdulwahid, came to the throne ; but he governed ill : and Alaadil, 
son of Almansur, who was at that time in Spain, finding his own claim 
to the empire good, seized without difficulty the sovereignty of what 
remained to the Mahometans in that country. When Abdulwahid, *fi 

* Beginning on the 3d of June in 1212 of Christ : yet Cardonne places the battle of Akab in 
the year 607 of the Hijra, or on the 16th July, A. G. 1210. 

f The Spanish name of the place, however, is Vanos Tolosa, according to some, or LosNavas 
according to others. 

+ Which began on the 23d May, 1 213 of Christ. § 1223 of Christ. 

He is said to have reigned nine months only. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



135 



however, was deposed and strangled at Marocco, the Franks attacked 
Alaadil, who was completely routed by them ; and, wretched as the 
state of Andalusia was, Alaadil crossed the sea to Marocco, leaving his 
brother Abu-1 Ala Idrls, at Seville. Soon after his arrival there, he 
was removed by the Muhadites, who advanced Yahya, son of Annasir, 
a youth of tender years and of no experience, to the throne : but Abu-1 
Ala, having first assumed the dignity of Khalif at Seville, and received 
the allegiance of the Andalusians, was soon afterwards acknowledged 
by the people of Marocco, though he still resided in Spain : and, when 
the Emir Almutawakkil Ibn Hud, who vindicated the supremacy of 
the house of Alabbas, rose up against him, and the people also quitted 
him, he left the peninsula to Ibn Hud ; and, directing his attention 
wholly to Yahya, son of Annasir, he ceased not carrying on war against 
him till he slew him ; when he obtained the entire sovereignty of 
Almaghrab,* exclusive of Spain, and he died in 629. f His son, 
Arrasbid, was then inaugurated Khalif in Africa, as well as in some 
parts of Andalusia. To him, who died in 640,$ his brother Assaid 
succeeded: and the latter was killed at a fortress between Marocco and 
Tilimsan in 646. § Almurtaza Umar, son of Ibrahim, son of Yusuf, 
son of Abdulmumin, next ascended the throne ; but, in 665, Alwathik, 
surnamed Abu Dabus, conspired against him ; and, being seized in his 
flight, he was slain by Alwathik : the latter, however, was killed by 
the Banii Marin in 668 ; and, with him, ended one of the most powerful 
of the Mahometan dynasties, namely, that of the house of Abdulmumin, 
the Banii Marin now gaining the sovereignty in Almaghrab. 

In the year 626 of the Hijra,^[ the Christians entered the district of 
Merida, the ancient capital of the interior of Spain, though Badajos 
afterwards became the seat of government in that part of the country, 
and took it from Muhamniadu-bn Hud. Both those cities, with their 

* " The west," being generally applied to denote Africa and Spain, 
•f- Beginning on the 29th of October, 1231 of Christ. 
-J Beginning on the 1st of July, 1242 of Christ. 
§ Beginning on the 26th of April, 12-18 of Christ. 
^ Beginning on the 30th of November, A. C. 1228. 



136 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



territories,, had formerly been subject to Almuzaffaru-bnu-1 Aftas, indis- 
putably the most learned prince of his age, and author of that splendid 
and excellent work, Almutarjim bittadhakkiri-1 Muzaffary, in fifty 
volumes, comprising history, biography, and all the various branches 
of polite literature. His son, Almutawakkil, too, was one of the most 
eminent men of the age ; and the court of the latter, like that of 
Almuatamidu-bn Abbad, was the resort of the learned ; who kept 
passing from the one to the other, as the fragrant gales are alternately 
wafted at times from bower to bower. Almutawakkil, however, was 
the most scientific of these two, and Almuatamid the most poetical : 
the first was slain by the forces of Yusufu-bn Tasifin ; and the latter 
was carried captive to Africa, where he died. 

In 627,* the island of Majorca was taken by the Christians : but, the 
Moslems retained possession of Minorca some time longer, on condition 
of paying a stipulated tribute. 

On the decay of the Muhadite dynasty in Spain, Muhammadu-bn 
Yusufi-bn Hud, surnamed Almutawakkil, Ibn Mardanis, and other 
revolters, attacking its remaining forces at the same time, expelled 
them from the country ; and Ibn Hud obtained the chief dominion in 
the land : but, as he acknowledged the supremacy of the Abbasian 
Khalif, he deferred taking the allegiance of the people, as their sove- 
reign, till the arrival of his patent from Baghdad, in the year 631. f 
Against this prince, however, several competitors for dominion sprung 
up; the most successful of which was Muhaminadu-biiu-1 Ahmar, sur- 
named the Shaikh, whose family residence was at Arjuna, a fortress in 
the kingdom of Cordova, where he was born in the year 591 X of the 
Hijra. His family, which had been conspicuous in the army of the 
state, was also called Banu Nasr;§ and, towards the close of the 
Muhadite dynasty, he was the chief of the Khazrij tribe, deriving his 
pedigree from its prince, Saadu-bn Ubada. When, therefore, Ibn Hud, 

* Beginning on the 20th of November, 1229 of Christ. 
| Beginning on the 7th of October, 1233 of Christ. 
t Beginning on the 16th of December, A. C. 1194 
§ After Nasr, an eminent ancestor. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



137 



acknowledging the supremacy of the house of Alabbas, not only 
possessed the ascendancy over the other revolters, but had made himself 
master of the east of Spain, and fixed the seat of government atMurcia, 
Ibnu-1 Ahmar, who in opposition to the family of Hud, caused the 
name of Abu ZakarTa, sovereign of Ifrikia, to be mentioned in the 
public prayers, as commander of the faithful, conspired against him ; 
and, in 629 began to receive the allegiance of the people. In the fol- 
lowing year, Jaen and Xeres submitted to him ; and, through his 
affinity to the Banu Nasr, as well as his relationship by marriage to the 
Banu Iskilula, he found means to establish his authority. 

After the departure of Ibn Hud from Seville, on his return to Murcia, 
Abu Marwanu-1 Bajy revolted, and obtained possession of the former 
city ; but, Ibnu-1- Ahmar, having in 632 entered the place peaceably, 
under pretence of giving Albajy his daughter in marriage, and of 
submitting to him, slew him, by means of Aliyu-bn Iskilula: the 
people, however, in one month, restored their allegiance to Ibn Hud, 
and expelled Ibnu-1 Ahmar. Then, in the year 635,* Ibnu-1 Ahmar 
obtained possession of Granada, by subduing the people, when Ibn 
Aby Khalid had excited a civil war there in his cause ; and, on receiv- 
ing at Jaen the investiture of the sovereignty, he dispatched Aliyu-bn 
Iskilula as governor : but he himself shortly followed ; and fixing him- 
self at Granada, he built in it the fortress of the Alhamra, for his own 
residence. 

After the acquisition of Granada, Ibnu-1 Ahmar soon obtained pos- 
session of Malaga. In the year 643, he took Almeria from Ibnu-r 
Ramimy; and, in 663, the people of Lorca gave him their allegiance. 
This prince, at the commencement of his reign, entered into an alliance 
with the Christian tyrant, for the purpose of obtaining his aid to esta- 
blish his newly acquired sway : and, Ibn Hud gave the Christian thirty 
forts, to induce him to desist from his attacks in favour of Ibnu-1 Ahmar, 
and to obtain his assistance against the King of Cordova : this city, 

* Beginning on the 24th August, A. C. 1237. ' 
T 



138 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



however, was taken by the Christians in 633,* or, on the 23d of Shavwal 
in 636, f as elsewhere recorded. 

In 637, or on the 17th of Safar, in 636,$ Valencia surrendered to the 
Christians. In 645, the King of Castille, accompanied by Ibnu-1 
Ah mar, attacked Seville, which capitulated to the former on the fifth 
of Shaaban in 646, § after a siege of one year and five months. And, 
in 665, 1[ or in 668,|| according to another account, the tyrant gained 
possession of Murcia ; Ahmadu-bn Muhammadi-bn Hud, son of its 
sovereign, having come on the tenth of Shavwal to the city, with a 
number of Christian chiefs, and delivered it into their hands. 

When Almutawakkil Ibn Hud had fixed himself at Murcia as an 
independent sovereign, and other revolters against Abu-1 Ala Idris, 
surnamed Mamun, of the family of Abdu-1 Miimin, arose in Spain, Abu 
Abdillah Muhammadu-bnu-r Ramlmy, a powerful man in Almeria, 
took possession of that city in behalf of Ibn Hud ; and, on going to 
the latter at Murcia, was appointed his Vizir. Afterwards, he prevailed 
on Ibn Hud, through the influence he acquired over him, to fortify the 
castle of Almeria, as a residence for Ibn Hud himself, whilst the Vizir 
in fact sought it for his own accommodation : and, Ibn Hud having left 
in it a damsel, to whom Ibnu-r Ramimy was much attached, the latter 
obtained a communication with her. As soon as intelligence of this 
circumstance reached Ibn Hud, he hastened to Almeria, with the design 
of taking revenge ; but, the Vizir anticipated his master's purpose, and 
Ibn Hud was conveyed a corpse from the castle, and sent in a coffin by 
water to Murcia. At this event, Ibnu-r Ramimy took possession of 
Almeria in his own name: shortly, however, his son rebelled against 
him in that place ; and, after some changes, the state of things became 
such, that Ibnu-1 Ahmar was enabled to subdue the city, and it con- 
tinued in the hands of his descendants, till it was seized by the Christians 
at the final subjugation of Andalusia. 

* Beginning on the 16th of September, A. C. 1235. 

f About the 28th of May, A. C. 1239. J About the 28th of September, A. C 1238. 

§ About the 23d of November, A. C. 1248. ^ Began on the 2d of October, A- C. 1260. 
11 Began on the 31st of August, 1269. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



139 



After encountering much warfare and difficulty, the dynasty of Hud 
closed in Alwathik ; who, being hardly pressed by Alfonso and the 
Barcelonians, submitted to Ibnu-1 Ahmar, and surrendered to the 
latter's agent, Ibn Iskilula, the city of Murcia. He then attempted 
to go to Ibnu-1 Ahmar ; but the Christians attacked him on the way, 
and he returned to Murcia, where he remained till they took from him 
the city in 668 ; giving him, however, in the kingdom of Murcia, a 
castle, called Yasr, in which he resided till his death. 

Not content with the reduction of the principal cities above-mentioned, 
the Christian Tyrant continued to seize the possessions of the Moslems, 
taking from them district after district, and fortress after fortress, till 
they were forced entirely to the sea coast, from Ronda on the west to 
the east of Andalusia, about ten marhala (days journies) in length, and 
one marhala, or less, in breadth from the inland side to the sea. Indig- 
nant at this, Ibnu-1 Ahmar then sought to obtain possession of all the 
peninsula,* but he was unable to accomplish his purpose. Troops, 
however, were dispatched to Spain by the Banii Marin and others, at 
various times : as, about the year 660, Yaacubu-bn Abdilhakk, King 
of Almaghrab, sent over three thousand warriors, whose arrival Ibnu-1 
Ahmar welcomed, and with whom he repelled the enemy ; and, on the 
return of these to Africa, others constantly passed over in their stead, 
till the death of the Shaikh Ibnu-1 Ahmar, in 671. t 

Muhammadu-1 Fakih,$ son of the last-mentioned, then succeeded to 

* What is really meant by this expression, seems doubtful. Perhaps that corner of Andalusia 
only, on which Algesiras, Gibraltar, Xeres, &c. are situated, may be intended, 
f Beginning on the 29th July, A. C 1272. 

I This prince was born in 633, and died in 701 : when he was succeeded by his son Muhammad 
Abu Abdillab, who was born in 655, dethroned in 708, and who died in 713. Nasru-bn Mu- 
hammad was born in 686, usurped the throne of his brother in 70S, was expelled from Granada 
in 713, and died at Guadix in 722. IsmaTlu-bn Faraji-bn Nasr, surnamed Abu-1 Walld, was 
born in 677, came to the throne in 713, and died in 725. This latter was succeeded by his son, 
Muhammad, surnamed Abu Abdillah, who was born in 715, and died in 733. He was suc- 
ceeded by his brother Yiisuf, surnamed Abu-1 Hajjaj, who was born in 718, and assassinated in 
the mosqne, whilst at public prayer, on the 1st of the month Shavwal in 755. § Muhammad, son 

§ See a translation of the elegant inscription on the tomb of this Prince, in Appendix I. (No. 15). 



140 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



the sovereignty of Granada: and, in 672, Yaacubu-bn Abdilhakk, 
Sultan of Fez and Almaghrab, first sent over his son with an army, 
which he himself followed, to the assistance of Muhammad ; and having 
taken Algesiras from the hand of an insurgent, who had got possession 
of it, he made it the receptacle of his warriors. Ibnu-1 Ahmar also gave 
up to him the fortress of Tarifa : and, the two sovereigns united, put to 
flight the Christian governor, dispersed his army, and routed the legions 
of the tyrant on all sides ; till, through jealousy of his ally, Ibnu-1 
Ahmar, made peace with the Christians, and Ibn Abdilhakk returned 
to Africa. The descendants of Ibnu-1 Ahmar, however, became so 
firmly established in Andalusia, that they shortly acquired the sove- 
reignty of all the possessions of the Moslems there ; like Algesiras, 
Tarifa, and Ronda, which had belonged to the Rami Marin. 

In the year 719,* the Christian princes collected their forces against 
Granada ; and the tyrant haughtily approached it with an innumerable 
army : but, though the people were disappointed of assistance from the 
Sultan of Fez, to whom they had made application, yet the Christians 
were shamefully routed by the Shaikhu-1 Ghuzat, Ibn Said Othman, 
with an army of about five thousand warriors only. This victory was 
gained on Sunday, the 23d of the first Rabla : and, of the spoils ob- 
tained by the Moslems, who pursued the enemy three days, and slew of 
them fifty thousand men or upwards, were forty-three hundred weight of 
gold, and one hundred and forty hundred weight of silver, besides seven 
thousand captives ; among which were the wife and children of the chief : 
but the chief also fell ; and his skin, being stripped from his body,f was 

of Yusuf, surnamed Alghany Billah, then came to the throne; but, his manners being too severe 
and correct for the courtiers, his brother Ismail shortly afterwards took advantage of the circum- 
stance to expel him, and to usurp the government ; of which Ismail kept possession till the year 
761, when the latter was killed by his relative and minister, Abu Said. This person then usurped 
the throne ; but, finding himself unable to retain it, he fled to the King of Castille for aid, by 
whose order he was privately put to death. Muhammad was restored in the year 763. These 
notices, however, on the biography of the first Sultans of the Banii-1 Ahmar, who reigned at 
Granada, will be found to differ widely from the accounts given by Cardonne; at least in the 
dates of events. * Began about the 22d of February, A. C. 1319. 

f This seems to have been the defeat of the two infants, Don Pedro and Don Juan : but, 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



141 



stuffed with cotton, and suspended over the gate of Granada, where it 
remained for years. At the era of this event, the Sultan of the Moslems 
in Spain was Alghalib Billah Abu Walid Ismail, surnamed Ibnu-1 
Ahmar ; and peace was afterwards concluded with the Christians, in 
consequence of their soliciting it. 

Yaacubu-bn Abdilhakk, Sultan of Fez and Almaghrab, whose assist- 
ance to the Moslems in Spain has been before noticed, was succeeded 
by his son Yusuf, to whom Alfonso fled for aid, and pledged his crown ; in 
consequence of which Yusuf supported him in the recovery of his domi- 
r ions. But the princes of the house of Marin continued to afford succours, 
both in men and money, to the people of Andalusia ; and, a number 
of the Sultan's relatives, whose actions with the enemy were splendid 
and renowned, continued in Spain as its protectors: with Ibnu-1 Ahmar 
even, in Granada, a body of such auxiliaries resided, under the com- 
mand of a chief, called the Shaikhu-1 Ghuzat,* selected from the royal 
family of Marin. When, moreover, the empire came into the possession 
of the Sultan Abu-1 Hasani-1 Marlny, and his authority was established 
in all Almaghrab, as well as in some parts of Andalusia, he fitted out 
a large fleet for the purpose of carrying on the sacred w ar in Spain, 
which he was very anxious to prosecute. It pleased God, however, 
that the Franks, who had collected vast forces with the design of sub- 
duing all that remained to the Moslems, should, after they had taken 
Algesiras, seize most of this fleet ; and when he came himself to Ceuta, 
with the intention of passing the sea to the assistance of the people of 
Spain, he found the Franks in possession of the straits, with an innu- 
merable fleet, by which they opposed his passage to Andalusia ; and, 
having made themselves masters of Algesiras, they were enabled to 
injure his shipping much. Still he sent over troops, and commanded 

Mariana places that battle in the year 1317, and Cardonne describes it as happening in 1318; 
according to the author, however, here translated, it must have been in 1319, and about the 14th 
of May, on a Sunday, answering to the 23d of the first Rabla, in 719 of the Hijra. Neither 
Mariana nor Cardonne notices the circumstance of the commander's, or of a commander's, skin 
being exposed, as here related. 
* Senior of the sacred warriors. 



1 12 THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



thein in person till he conquered Gibraltar from the Christians ; and, 
to the fortifying of this place, which had been twenty years in their 
hands, but which he took after a siege of six months, he was particlarly 
attentive, spending vast sums of money in building its houses, maga- 
zines, and great mosque, as well as on its walls, towers and citadel. 
Before, however, these improvements were fully completed, the enemy 
laid siege to it by sea and land ; but their attempt was frustrated by 
the gallant and persevering defence of the Moslems. 

After this, the Sultan Abii-1 Hasan again applied himself to strengthen 
Gibraltar, by fortifying the foot of the rock with a wall, encircling it 
on all sides, as the halo surrounds the crescent moon ; so that the enemy 
could now discover no prospect of success in attacking it, nor did there 
appear any way to force it by siege : and, his son, Abu-1 Anan, still 
augmented its fortifications. But, intent as Abu-1 Hasan was on esta- 
blishing his power in Andalusia, Algesiras fell to the Christians, in 
consequence of the defeat which he, together with Ibnu-1 Ahmar, 
suffered at Tarifa from the tyrant : and, Gibraltar was afterwards taken 
from the Banu Marin, by Muhammad, surnamed Alghany Billah, 
Sultan of Granada, to whom Lisanu-d Din ibnu-1 Khatib was minister. 

After the loss of Cordova, Seville, Toledo, Murcia, and others of the 
principal cities of Spain, the Moslems were confined to Granada, 
Almeria, Malaga, and the adjacent places : but, the dragon of the 
enemy still advanced, swallowing up, every hour, some fortress or 
country; though the princes of the family of Ibnu-1 Ahmar, who ruled 
over the contracted territories now remaining to the Moslems, seldom 
desisted from war with their enemies, and were generally aided by the 
Banu Marin, Kings of Fez. When, however, on the retirement of his 
brother, Abu Abdillah, from the sovereignty of Malaga, the Sultan 
Abu-1 Hasan Aly was acknowledged there, as well as in all the other 
possessions retained by the Moslems in Spain, he prosecuted the war 
successfully and reduced many places ; so that the enemy became alarmed 
at his victories, and solicited peace with him. On the 19th of Dhu-1 
Hijja, in the year 882, this sovereign commenced a review of his nume- 
rous army, the troops composing which he inspected from a delightful 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



143 



edifice, erected for the occasion, without the Alhamra, the citadel of 
Granada ; and they ceased not passing before him daily till the 22d of 
Muharram* following, when the review was completed. Afterwards, 
the city of Granada was afflicted by a violent torrent, such as had never 
before been witnessed in that country, which it pleased God to send by 
way of chastisement to the inhabitants for their excesses in wickedness 
and iniquity. On this occasion, the rain fell in streams, as if poured 
from the mouths of bottles ; and, the swoln river, descending with 
stones, swept away the shops, houses, bridges, and gardens of those 
parts of the city which stood on each of its banks ; and the devastation 
of the torrent extended even to the water wheel of the great mosque. 

About this time, the chiefs of the Franks were divided among them- 
selves : one taking possession of the kingdom of Cordova ; another, of 
Seville; and another, ofXeres. In consequence of this distraction of 
his enemies, Abu-1 Hasan gave himself up to luxury ; neglecting and 
wasting his forces, whilst intent upon his pleasures. Such being his 
disposition, he resigned the management of affairs to his ministers ; and, 
having secluded himself from the eyes of his people, he abandoned all 
military enterprise, as well as all attention to the government of his 
country : an infatuation this which overcame him, that the will of the 
Almighty might be accomplished. Hence oppressors and acts of op- 
pression, became numerous : and both high and low condemned the 
conduct of their Prince ; who, imagining that the Christians would 
never cease from their dissensions and return to the attack of his king- 
dom, slew even the principal of his generals. It happened, however, 
that the King of Castille, after fighting some battles, recovered that 
country ; and the rebellious chiefs of polytheism were obliged to sub- 
mit to him. 

The power of the Franks being thus reunited, they soon found an 
opportunity to invade and subdue the land ; the circumstances which 
led to this event were as follows. The Sultan Abu-1 Hasan had by his 
. wife, the daughter of his uncle Abu Abdillah Alaisar, two sqjis, 

* So that the review coQtinued from about the 24th of March, to the 25th cf April, A. C* 
1478. 



144 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



Muhammad and Yusuf ; but, he had preferred to their mother a Grecian 
woman, by whom he had issue : and, having evinced his predilection 
for the concubine in every affair, it was feared that he would postpone 
his sons by the noble daughter of his uncle, to those by the Grecian. 
From this cause, quarrels took place, and factions were formed, among 
the officers of the state; some inclining to the sons of his wife, and 
others to those of the concubine. By chance, too, the term of the treaty 
of peace, which the Christians had concluded during their internal di- 
visions, expired while the courtiers were thus at variance together ; and, 
the complaints made by the people of the oppression experienced from 
the Vizir and other ministers, were disregarded : hence, discord gathered 
strength, and the state of things became so serious, that the populace 
demanded the removal of the Vizir. This disaffection of the Granadians, 
and the weakness of the government were soon discovered by the 
Christians ; who, at the termination of the peace, took Alhama, by 
surprise, from the King of Fez in 887 ;* and, having gained the castle, 
sought to make themselves masters of the town also. To accomplish 
their purpose, they spread themselves throughout the place, slew all 
the Moslems they met, and took the women captive ; whilst the un- 
prepared inhabitants were incapable of making resistance. On learning 
this event, the people of Granada, of every rank and class, went forth ; 
and the arrival of the foremost of them induced the enemy, who, to the 
number of about ten thousand men, had seized Alhama, and were pre- 
paring to depart with their plunder, to return to the town ; where the 
Moslems laid siege to them : but, after having been obliged to raise 
the siege twice, and after the governor of Seville had found means to 
relieve the place, which the Christians had not before determined to 
hold, the Moslems abandoned it in despair. 

On the 27th of the prior Jumady in the same year,f the Granadians 
forced the King of Castille, who had laid siege to Loja, to retire from 
that place, with great loss in provisions and arms : and, on the same 
day, Abu Abdillah Muhammad, and Abu-1 Hajjaj Yiisuf, sons of the 
Sultan Abu-1 Hasan, having fled through fear that he would kill them 
* 1482 of Christ. f About the 14th of July in 1482 of Christ. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN 



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at the instigation of his concubine, settled at Gnadix ; which place, as 
well as Baza,* Almeria, and Granada, submitted to them ; their father 
having withdrawn himself to Malaga, where his sovereignty was still 
acknowledged. 

In the month Safar of the year 888, t the Christian governors of Se- 
ville, Xeres, Ecija, Antequera, and other places,^ united together, and 
proceeded with about eight thousand men towards Malaga and Velez : 
they did not, however, get possession of one forf • and, whilst they were 
dispersed in the passes and mountainous parts of the country, the people 
of those two cities united, attacked them ; and, having killed about 
three thousand, besides making two thousand prisoners, they obliged 
the rest to take to flight. Amongst the slain, moreover, was an uncle 
of their king, with the governors of Seville, Xeres, Antequera, and other 
places, being in all near thirty of their principal commanders : and, the 
spoils gained by the Moslems were very great and valuable. After- 
wards, the people of Malaga invaded the territories of the Christians, 
who suffered so complete a defeat, that most of the chiefs of the west of 
Andalusia were slain in it.§ 

At the attack of the Christians on Malaga, the Sultan Abu-1 Hasan 
retired from it to Almunezar, leaving his brother, Abu Abdillah, with 
part of the army, in the former place. And, when the Sultan Abu Ab- 
dillah, son of Abu-1 Hasan, who was established in Granada, heard of 
the advantages which his uncle in Malaga had gained over the 
Christians, he led the people of Granada, in the first Rabia of this 
year, 5f to war against the enemy ; plundering and making captive till 
he reached the territory of Lucena : but, the Christians of these districts 
having assembled, and being joined by the governor of Cabra, threw 
themselves in the rear of the Moslems, and cut off their communication 

* But Cardonne asserts, that Basta remained faithful to Abu-1 Hasan, 
f March or April, 1483 of Christ. 

J Cardonne ascribes this expedition to the Marquis of Cadiz. 

§ It is, however, somewhat doubtful, from the original Arabic, whether the people of Malaga or 
the Christians suffered this defeat : yet, from the context, the meaning here given to the passage 
seems most likely. April or May, A. C. 1483. 



146 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



with their own country. In this situation, the Moslems were defeated ; 
and the whole of their army was either slain or made prisoners : amongst 
the latter was the Sultan himself ; whom, on being discovered by the 
governor of Lucena, the Count of Cabra wished to take from him, but 
he fled with him by night, and conveyed him to the King of Castille ; 
in consequence of which performance, he was exalted above all the other 
commanders, and employed on every important enterprise At the oc- 
currence of this disaster, the principal men of Granada and the nobles 
of Andalusia went to Malaga, and brought back to Granada Abu-1 
Hasan, to whom they took the oaths of allegiance ; he, however, having 
lost his sight from a paralytic affection, and being otherwise much 
afflicted, excused himself from undertaking the government ; and, ab- 
dicating the throne in favour of his brother, Abu Abdillah/* he retired 
Almunezar,t where he remained till his death. 

In the latter Rabia of the year 890,$ the Christians invaded the ter- 
ritory of Malaga with force ; and, as in the preceding year, subdued 
some forts : they also entered Dhakwan § by storm, having first under- 
mined its walls ; but, a body of men from Algharb and from Ronda, 
happening to be in the place, they slew the thousand men in armour 
who had entered ; afterwards, however, the garrison capitulated, on 
condition of being allowed to depart in safety. In the prior Jumady 
of the same year,^[ the Christians took Ronda ; so that nothing remained 
to the west of Malaga, which they had not subdued : and, after distri- 
buting his army among the various fortresses, in readiness to besiege 
Malaga, the King of Castille returned home. 

On the 19th of Shaaban in this year,|| the Sultan of Granada went 
forth to fortify the country : and, whilst on his tour, being informed 
that the enemy had encamped without a certain fort, he encountered 
them on the morning of the 23d, but the Moslems, fighting in disorder, 
were broken, and the enemy penetrated to the tent of the Sultan : on a 
renewal of the battle, however, the Christians were ultimately defeated, 



* Surnamed, Azzaghal. 

f Cardonne says nothing of this ; but tells quite another tale. 
| April or May, A.C. I 485. 



§ A town to the west of Malaga, 

f May or June, 1485. 

j| About the 31st of August. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



147 



and many of them slain, though the Moslems restrained themselves 
through fear of the main body of the Christian King's army, which was 
advancing towards this division. After this, nothing was done till the 
month of Ramazan ; when the infidel advanced against Cambil, which 
capitulated ; and he made himself master of many other forts : but, 
all the territories of the Moslems were now so straitened by him, that 
he attacked no fortress or district, without making himself master 
of it. 

Not content with his success by force of arms, the King of Castille 
then turned his mind to artifice : and, having furnished his prisoner, 
the Sultan Abu Abdillah, with men, money, and necessaries, he sent 
him to the east of Baza : and, to allure the people, he promised that 
whoever submitted to the Sultan, his ally, should be comprised in the 
treaty of peace subsisting between them, and enjoy the security it 
afforded. In the mean time, the Christian proceeded to Velez ; the 
people of which city submitted to him, and peace was proclaimed in 
the market-place : this circumstance, being published by the demons 
of mischief throughout the country, seduced the inhabitants of the 
suburbs of Granada, called Albaizin ; and, they being joined by the 
seditious, as well as by those who from the weakness of the government 
were anxious for peace, proclaimed the Sultan, whom the Christians had 
held in captivity. Hence, great troubles sprang up in Granada itself 
among the Moslems. In this situation of affairs, the people of the 
fortress assailed Albaizin with stones ; and this alarming commotion, 
which began on the 3d of the prior Rabia of the year 891,* continued 
till the middle of the prior Jumady following.f 

Whilst the people of Granada were thus contending among them- 
selves, intelligence arrived that the Sultan, whom some acknowledged, 
had advanced to Loja and entered that place, in hopes of an arrange- 
ment for peace between him and his uncle, the reigning Sultan in 
Granada : and the conditions proposed were, that the nephew should 
reside in Loja or in any other place which he might wish, but in sub- 
jection to his uncle ; and, that they should act in unity against the 

* About the 9th of March, 1486, f About the 19th of May, 1486. 



148 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



enemy of the faith. In the mean time, however, the King of Castille 
invested Loja with great force ; and, the Sultan, who had been his cap- 
tive, was joined in it by a number of his partisans from Albaizin, who 
repaired to the assistance of their sovereign ; but, the people of Granada 
and other places, suspecting that this was all a stratagem, came none 
of them to the protection of Loja : and, when alarming rumours of the 
same import, that the attack was concerted between the captive Sultan 
and the King of Castille, were disseminated among the besieged, they, 
through fear of being taken by assault, capitulated on conditions of se- 
curity for their lives and property ; and, the King took possession of the 
place on the 26th of the prior Jumady.* The people of Loja then re- 
moved to Granada ; but the Sultan remained behind : which circum- 
stance convinced the Granadians, that his entrance into Loja was 
intended solely to put the enemy in possession of it ; and, that this was 
agreed on as his ransom. In confirmation, too, of this belief, the Sul- 
tan's son, who had been retained as a hostage, was now liberated. 
After the reduction of Loja, the King of Castille returned to his own 
territories, taking the captive Sultan with him : in the middle of the 
next month, however, he attacked Albira ; and, after he had demolished 
part of the walls, the inhabitants capitulated, and removed to Granada. 
Then, he proceeded against other fortresses ; which he subdued in like 
manner, and filled with troops and stores in readiness for the intended 
siege of Granada. 

Again the rumour was spread abroad, that the King of Castille had 
accorded to the captive Sultan, peace and security for all those who 
should submit to the latter : and, this concession he had been induced 
to make, as it was said, on account of a war which had broken out be- 
tween him and the King of France. The captive Sultan then repaired 
to Velez, which accepted his sway : but, though he sent to all the 
neighbouring places to allure them with the offer of a participation in 
the treaty subsisting between the King and him, on condition of their 
submitting to his authority, yet very few placed any confidence in him, 
except the people of Albaizin, who readily acceeded to his proposals. 

* About the 30th of May, 1486. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



149 



Acting as his declared partisans, they not only began to attack the 
people of Granada with reproachful language, calculated to excite civil 
discord and commotion ; but they informed the captive Sultan, that if 
he would come to their quarter, they would openly acknowledge him 
for their sovereign. With full assurance of the disposition of the people, 
he therefore sought an opportunity, which the neglect of the opposite 
party allowed him, to enter Albaizin on the 16th of Shavwal : * but 
though he then proclaimed unconditional peace, yet the people of 
Granada, calling to mind the preceding treacherous affair of Loja, re- 
fused to accept it of him. 

At the captive Sultan's entrance into Albaizin, his uncle removed 
from the palace of the Alhambra to the castle, and civil war commenced ; 
the King of Castille assisting the Sultan, his ally, with men, money, 
wheat, gunpowder, and other articles ; so that his authority was 
strengthened, as well as his means of maintaining the contest, in- 
creased ; and massacre and plunder became common. This continued 
till the 27th of Muharram, 892 ; t °n which day the people of Granada, 
with their Sultan, determined to enter Albaizin by force ; the doctors 
of the law giving their opinion on the person who sought to conquer 
through the aid of the Christians, and not only pointing out the duty 
of repelling him, but shewing, that they who obeyed him were rebels 
against God and his Prophet : yet they made but a faint attack upon 
the people of Albaizin. The sovereign of Granada then sent to the 
military and chiefs of the people of Baza, Guadix, Almeria, Almunezar, 
Velez, Malaga, and all the districts of the land ; and, being assembled 
in Granada, they bound themselves by oath, to act unanimously against 
the enemies of the faith, and in support of the Moslems who resisted the 
foe. At this determined opposition, the Sultan in Albaizin, being terrified, 
sent intelligence of it to the King of Castille, and departed hastily to- 
wards the territory ofVelez; having dispatched his Vizir to Malaga 
and Hisnu-1 Munshat, to induce the people to submit to him, by 
alarming them with the prospect of danger from the Christians, and 
by shewing them the treaty he had entered into with the King of 

* About the 17th of October, A. C. 1486. f About the 24th of January, 1 187. 



150 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



Castille, which would secure protection to his subjects. Swayed by 
such arguments, Malaga and Hisnu-1 Munshat* acknowledged his 
sovereignty: but, when the chief men of Malaga met those of Velez to 
explain their motives for this conduct, the latter refused to depart from 
their engagements with the people of Granada, and the other Maho- 
metans of Andalusia. The King of Castille then laid siege to Velez 
Malaga in the latter Rabia of the year 892 :f and, the Granadians, on 
learning the circumstance, prepared to fulfil their engagements with 
the besieged, in marching to their relief. The people of Guadix and 
other places, as well as the levies of the Alpuxarras, then assembled at 
Granada ; and the Sultan set forth on the 24th of the latter Rabia, for 
Velez. When he drew near, finding that the enemy had formed the 
siege both by sea and land, he encamped on a mountain there ; but 
the Moslems, with much clamour, hastened to assault the Christians : 
at the very moment, however, when they were advancing to the attack, 
intelligence reached the Sultan, Azzaghal,^ that the Granadians had 
sworn allegiance to the Sultan of Albaizin ; the army, therefore, en- 
gaged the Christians irresolutely ; or rather, before the battle had begun, 
they fled in disorder, though their opponents were really terrified at 
their approach. By this time, the officers had become acquainted with 
the revolt in Granada against the Sultan ; they, therefore, betook them- 
selves to Guadix : and the Christians, who had raised the siege of Velez 
for the purpose of encountering the Granadians, recommenced their 
operations against that place ; the suburbs of which they took by storm. 
Seeing the determination of the enemy against them, and the retreat of 
their allies, the people of Velez offered to capitulate ; and terms being 
granted them, they marched out on Friday, the 10th of the prior 
Jumady.§ 

Having now made themselves masters of all to the east of Malaga, 

* Or Hisnu-n Nashat ; for the text is doubtful in this particular, and the place is not known. 
-J- March or the beginning of April, 1487. 

j This is very different from Cardonne's account : and the revolt of the Granadians, here men- 
tioned, is recorded to have happened on the 5th of the prior Jumady, or about the 29th of April, 
A. C. 1487. § About the 4th of May, A. C. 1487- 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



151 



the Christians proceeded to the siege of that place ; though the inha- 
bitants had submitted to the captured Sultan, and were included in 
the treaty of peace subsisting between him and the King of Castille. 
During the siege of Velez, too, the people of Malaga had sent the king 
a present by their governor, the Sultan's Vizir, and the governor 01 
Xeres, who was their captive : but he would not notice them, because 
Jabal Can, the fortress of Malaga,, remained in allegiance to the Sultan 
of Guadix. The enemy, however, experienced a vigorous resistance 
from the inhabitants of Malaga, who fought valiantly ; though in a 
short time they became so surrounded by both sea and land, that they 
could no longer receive assistance from without ; and in their hopes 
for aid they had been almost completely disappointed, a body of 
Murabits* only having entered the city during the siege. After a very 
severe action, in which the inhabitants had nearly defeated their adver- 
saries, the suburbs were taken ; but the contest was not abandoned till 
the provisions in the city being spent, the people subsisted on their 
horses and asses, and became exhausted with famine. In their appli- 
cation, too, for assistance to the Africans, they were totally disappointed. 
They then began to treat with the Christians for such terms of capitu- 
lation as had been usually accorded to others ; and hopes were held 
out to them, that if they would surrender the castle and the fort, the 
king could not fail of treating them well : but these terms were intended 
only to deceive ; as the king took the inhabitants captive, on getting 
possession of the city, which surrendered at discretion towards the end 
of Shaaban, in the year 892.f Having thus got possession of Malaga, 
and all the forts in that neighbourhood, the enemy proceeded to the 
east, and to Velez, which parts were at peace with him ; and he took 
quiet possession of them, paying no regard to the people when they 
pleaded treaties in their defence. 

* What men these were is not very evident. Perhaps they were a kind of militia, appointed 
to guard the frontiers : or, they might be other warriors bearing this appellation, as did the soldiers 
of Yusufu-bn Tasafln, before-mentioned. 

f About the 20th of August, 1487 of Christ. 



152 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



In the month Rajab of the year 894,* the enemy invaded the district 
of Baza ; and, after subduing some of its forts, he laid siege to the city 
itself ; which being strengthened by all the forces that the Sultan of 
Guadix could collect from Guadix, Almeria, Almunezar, and the 
Alpujarras, made a stout resistance, till the people were obliged to 
capitulate through the want of provisions : and, the Christians entered 
the castle of Baza, on Friday, the 10th of Muharram, in the year 895. f 
The terms, on which this fortress surrendered, secured to the people the 
liberty of remaining in their habitations, or of removing with their arms 
and property : and, similar conditions were at the same time agreed 
upon for the surrender of Guadix, Almeria, Almunezar, and the 
Alpujarras. But some of the conditions of the treaty then formed with 
the Christians were not made public : and, after getting possession of 
Baza, they forced the Moslems to quit the city, and to live in the 
suburbs, through fear of a revolt on any occasion. 

From Baza, the King of Castille advanced to Almeria, which sub- 
mitted to him : and, the Sultan of Guadix, who had gone to that city 
for the purpose of meeting the king, took the oath of allegiance to him, 
to hold what he possessed under his authority. Thence they repaired 
together to Guadix ; where the Sultan put the King in possession of 
the castle, about the beginning of the month Safar of the same year.$ 
All the country being now in reality subject to the King of Castille, 
except Granada, and its neighbouring towns, he placed Christian 
governors in the forts ; and to the Moslem governors of the land, he 
gave money ; not out of his regard for them, as they supposed, but to 
blind their understandings : for, his object was no other than to com- 
plete his preparations of men and stores, and to obviate the performance 
of what was right. Then he took Burju-1 Malaha, and other castles ; 
which he repaired, fortified, and filled with men and stores, as he had 
done with the forts before subdued. During this time, he manifested 
friendship and fidelity towards the Sultan of Guadix; but he endeavoured 

* June, 1489 of Christ. f About the 4th December, 1489 of Christ. 

% About the 25vh of December, 1489. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



153 



to disseminate evil reports with respect to the Sultan of Granada, " that 
" the latter would surrender to him the Alhambra, in the same way as 
" the uncle had done other forts and castles, and would submit to his 
« authority : in return for which he would give him great riches, and 
" what city of Andalusia he should choose to reside in." This notion, 
too, the Sultan of Granada encouraged in him ; and he came with his 
camp to take possession of the Alhambra, and of Granada, as it were 
by a secret agreement, At this crisis, the Sultan in Granada assembled 
the nobles and commoners, with the military and divines of the city ; 
and informed them of what the King of Castille required, as well as of 
the interruption occasioned by his uncle to the peace he had concluded 
with the king : but, added he, " we have the choice of two things, and 
" of two only — either to submit to him, or to fight." In consequence 
of this representation, it was determined to uphold the cause of the faith, 
to take the field with the Sultan, and still to execute the conditions of 
the treaty entered into. 

In the month Rajab of the year 895,* the King of Castille fixed his 
camp in the meadow of Granada, and summoned the people to yield 
to his authority ; intimating at the same time, that if they should refuse 
to comply, he would destroy all their crops of grain : and, this threat he 
really put in execution on witnessing the resistance they were disposed 
to make. After some skirmishes between the Moslems and their enemy, 
the latter departed ; and having destroyed some forts, and strengthened 
others, he returned to his own territories. During his absence, the 
Sultan of Granada attacked some strong places which were in the hands 
of the Christians ; and, having taken them by storm, he garrisoned 
them with Moslems. In the same month of Rajab, he also made an 
excursion into the Alpujarras, took some towns, expelled the Christians 
with the apostates, their associates, and, having made himself master 
of Andarax, the whole district shook off its allegiance to the Christians, 
and submitted to the Sultan. This place, however, was retaken in the 
month Raniazan, by his uncle, who had fixed himself at Almeria, in 

* End of May, or the beginning of June, 1490. 



154 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



f 



company with the Christians. The Sultan of Granada then laid siege 
to Hamdan, a strong place, filled with stores and provisions ; and, 
towards the end of Ramazan, he set forth against Almunezar ; but, 
before he had reduced the castle of Solobrena, which place he laid siege 
to, and gained possession of the town, intelligence reached him, that the 
King of Castille was again advancing to the meadow of Granada ; the 
army, therefore, returned to that city on the third of the month 
Shavwal.* After a stay, however, of eight days only, having demolished 
and evacuated Burju-1 Malaha with another fort, the king broke up 
his encampment and proceeded to Guadix ; from which place he ex- 
pelled every Moslem, whether residing in the city or in the suburbs: 
he then destroyed the castle of Andarax ; and, seemed to act as if afraid 
of losing the country. When the Sultan, Azzaghal, uncle to the Sultan 
of Granada, perceived this, he hastened to get on board a ship ; and, 
having passed over to Oran, he went to Tilimsan, where he settled, 
and where his descendants still remain, being named after him, Banu 
Sultani Andalus (sons of the Sultan of Andalusia). 

After taking the precautions above-mentioned, the King of Castille 
returned to the farther side of his own territories, being engaged in 
war with the Franks ; and, during his absence, the Granadians laid 
siege to Bursana,f which they reduced, and made the Christians in it 
captives : but, in their progress against the enemy, they were repulsed 
by the governor of Guadix, who had marched against them. 

On the 12th of the latter Jumady, in the year 896,% the enemy 
returned suddenly to the meadow of Granada ; when he destroyed the 
crops, demolished the towns, and built a place with a wall and ditch 
round it.§ It was then reported, that he intended to leave the country ; 
but, instead of doing so, he determined to lay siege to Granada, which 
he continued to straiten more and more daily. In this state the contest 
lasted seven months, when the Moslems became mueh distressed, and 
the enemy still persevered in the siege. A communication, however, 

* About the 20th August, 1490. -f- Seemingly the Purchena of the Spaniards. 

% About the 22d of April, 1491. § Probably, Santa Fe. 



i 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



155 



was open between Granada and the Alpujarras ; so that the people 
could get many articles of comfort, as well as of necessity, from the 
quarter of Jubiles : but, on the commencement of winter, not only the 
luxuries of life were precluded, but with the setting in of the frost and 
snow, and the consequent difficulty of conveyance, the necessaries began 
to fail. The enemy, too, whose design it was to reduce the people by 
famine, had got possession of almost every place without the city ; and, 
the condition of the besieged was so distressing at the beginning of the 
year 897,* that many were forced by want to quit the city and flee to 
the Alpujarras : but, in the month Safar,t the privations of the people 
became intolerable ; they, therefore, appealed to the sovereign through 
their leaders ; and he, having assembled his officers of state and coun- 
sellors, took their advice on this weighty affair. Agreeably to their 
opinion, and in consequence of the discovery being made that the offi- 
cers of the army were already in treaty with the Christians on the subject 
of surrendering the city, terms of capitulation were offered ; and, such 
nearly as had been granted to the people of Guadix were obtained ; 
with some additional articles, however, namely, that the King should 
agree to a strict observance of the conditions, after the Alhambra and the 
other fortifications should be delivered up to him ; and, that he should 
bind himself by oath, in the manner of the Christians, to the obliga- 
tions of the treaty. The allegiance of the people was then testified in 
writing, which the king accepted ; and, the Christians took possession 
of the Alhambra on the second of the prior Rabia,^ the Sultan having 
first quitted it, and near five hundred of the principal people of the 
city being secured as pledges for the fidelity of the rest. 

The conditions on which the city surrendered, were sixty seven ; 
among which were, that both small and great be secured in their per- 
sons, families, and possessions; that they be continued in their dwellings, 
houses, residences, and domains ; that their laws be preserved entire as 
they were before, and that no one judge them, except by those laws ; 

* About the 3d of November, 1491. f December, 1491. 

+ About the 2d of January, 1492, 



156 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



that their mosques and religious endowments remain as they were ; 
that no Christian enter the house of a Moslem, or strive to irritate him, 
and that none of the Moslems or Jews who had ruled over the Moslems 
by appointment of the Sultan, should again rule over them ; that all 
the captives in Granada, from what quarter soever they might come, 
but especially such nobles as were particularly mentioned, should be 
liberated ; that such Mahometan captives as had escaped from captivity, 
and had taken refuge in Granada, should not be reclaimed by their 
masters, or any others, but should be ransomed by the Sultan ; that 
none who wished to retire to Africa should be hindered, but that they 
should be conveyed thither in the king's ships within a time limited, 
and without any impost upon them, besides the mere charge for freight; 
that no one should be punished for the crime of another ; that no con- 
vert from Christianity to Mahometanism should be compelled again to 
embrace his former religion ; that such Mahometan as became Chris- 
tian, should be suffered to remain some time till his case was clear, when 
he should be questioned before both a Mahometan and a Christian 
judge, and in case he should then refuse to return to Islamism, he should 
be allowed to take his own course ; that no Moslem should be blamed 
for killing a Christian during the siege, nor should the plunder he 
might have taken from the Christians during the war be required 
of him ; that no Moslem should have Christian soldiers quartered on 
him, or be compelled to undertake a journey to any part ; that no 
increase should be made to the customary taxes, but that all the 
oppressive duties lately exacted, should be no longer levied ; that no 
Christian should look over the wall, or into the house, of a Moslem, or 
enter one of the Mahometan places of worship ; that the Moslems 
should be allowed to travel in the territories of the Christians, secure in 
both person and property ; that no badge or mark should be placed on 
the Moslems, as was done on the Jews and other dissenters in religion ; 
that no proclaimer of the public prayers — no one in the act of prayer, 
in the observation of a fast, or in the performance of other religious 
ceremony should be interrupted, but that any one laughing at him 
should be punished ; that they should be exonerated from debts on 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



157 



certain years ; and, that if the king should assent to all these condi- 
tions, he should add his signature ; with other such like things, which 
we have omitted to mention. When this matter was settled, and the 
Chrstians had taken possession of the Alhambra, as well as of the city, 
they appointed a governor in the former, and judges, with other magis- 
trates, in the latter. On learning these arrangements, the people of the 
Alpujarras assented to the peace, and were comprised in the Christian's 
dominion on the same terms as the people of Granada. 

The King of Castille then commanded the necessary buildings to be 
erected in the Alhambra — to repair its towers and walls, and its fortifi- 
cations to be strengthened ; he himself passing the day in it, but 
returning to his tent at night, till his dread of treachery was dissipated. 
He, also, entered the city ; and, by surveying it, obtained such infor- 
mation as he desired. Afterwards, he directed the Sultan of the Moslems 
to repair to the Alpujarras, which he promised should be his ; and, that 
he should reside at Andarax. The troops were accordingly withdrawn 
from that place, and the Sultan retired to it. In a short time, how- 
ever, the king began to use artifice, for the purpose of getting the Sultan 
removed to Africa, pretending that the latter had really solicited per- 
mission to depart thither : and, he wrote to the governor of Almeria, 
saying, " on the receipt of this, my letter, let no one hinder my ally, 
" Abu Abdillah, from going whither he desires across the straits ; but, 
fC let the reader expedite him on his journey, and perform towards him 
" what is stipulated by treaty/' Agreeably to the intimation given in 
this letter, the Sultan set forth without delay ; and, after a difficult 
passage, in which he suffered much from want of provisions and from 
sickness, he landed at Melilla ; whence he departed to Fez, and settled 
there, not having been able to obtain a passage towards Marocco, as 
he had before sought. 

No sooner had the Sultan left Spain, than the Christians began to 
break the treaty, and to infringe the stipulations, one after another ; 
and, in so hasty a manner, that by the year 904,f they had commenced 
the system of persuading, or rather constraining the people, to become 

* Beginning on the 19th of August, 1498. 



158 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



Christians, by various arguments and means. Amongst other things, 
they laid £>reat stress on the letters which, they said, had been written 
by the Bishops, directing that all who had been converted from Chris- 
tianity to Mahometanism, should be forced to return to their infidelity ; 
and this measure was adopted, notwithstanding the murmuring of the 
helpless populace. The next perfidious step the Christians took, was 
to say to a Moslem, " thy ancestor was a Christian, who apostatised to 
" Mahometanism; do thou, therefore, return to Christianity When 
this proceeding had become public, the people of Albaizin rose up and 
slew their magistrates, which was made an excuse for forcing the 
Moslems to become Christians : as their enemies now said, e< an order 

has just issued from the king, that whoever resists a magistrate, must 
" either suffer death, or become Christian ; all, therefore, whether, 
" inhabitants of the city or country, must embrace the Christian faith." 
This, however, the people refused to agree to, and shewed by argu- 
ments the justice of their cause; but, arguments availed them not; 
they, therefore, fled, and took refuge in various places, such as Bele- 
fique, Andarax, and the like. Thither the enemy, with his collected 
forces, pursued them ; and, by slaughter or captivity, extirpated all, 
except those who had betaken themselves to Mount Balanta (perhaps 
Blanco) for the Almighty aided them ; and in a severe battle gave them 
the victory over their enemies. After this engagement, in which the 
governor of Cordova was killed, and many other of their enemies, the 
Moslems obtained terms of capitulation ; and, in consequence, removed 
with their families and portable property to Fez, in Africa. 

Notwithstanding this persecution, there were some of the Moslems 
who professed Christianity ; but, who worshipped God in private, and 
performed their prayers at the stated times : the Christians, however } 
were very strict in watching them ; and, many were burnt for this con- 
scientious adherence to their religion. The Moslems were also forbidden 
to carry even small knives, much less were they allowed the use of other 
instruments of iron : still in this century, near to the year 1017 of the 
Hijra,* they maintained resistance against the Christians in certain 

* About 1608 of Christ. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



159 



mountains; and, emigrated by thousands to Fez, as well as to Tilimsan, 
by the way of Oran. These, however, were attacked and plundered on 
the roads by the Arabs, and such as fear not God ; and very few of them 
escaped. Multitudes, also, directed their course to Tunis ; and, having 
for the most part accomplished their journey in safety, they peopled the 
desert towns and districts of that country. Some of them in like man- 
ner settled at Tetuan, Salee, and on the miserable islets of the coast: 
and, since the Sultan of Marocco has taken into his service a great body 
of them, they are become famous for their warlike enterprises against 
the infidels by sea ; and, having taken up their abode at Salee, they 
have fortified the castle, and built themselves houses, baths, and palaces 
at that place, which they still continue to inhabit. Many of these 
fugitives withdrew to Constantinople, Egypt, and Syria, where they 
settled. As to the Sultan, Abu Abdillah Muhammad, son of the Sultan 
Abu-J Hasan, son of the Sultan Saad, son of the Emir Aly, son of the 
Sultan Yusuf, son of the Sultan Muhammad Alghany Billah, under 
whom Granada fell, and the dominion of Islamism terminated in Spain, 
he settled at Fez, as before-mentioned, built some palaces there which 
the author of this work had seen, in imitation of those he had left in 
Spain, and died in the year 940,* leaving two sons, Yusuf and Ahmad. 
Of his posterity, there were some remaining at Fez in the year 1037, f 
and the author saw them there, reduced to the necessity of subsisting 
on what they could obtain from the charitable bequests made for the 
support of the poor, and regarded, in fact, merely as beggars. 



* Beginning on the 22d July, 1533 of Christ. 



f Which began on the 1st September, 162?. 



160 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



CHAPTER V. 

TOPOGRAPHICAL ACCOUNT OF THE PRINCIPAL SEATS OF THE MAHO- 
METAN EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 

The preceding narrative has shewn with what rapidity the Moslems 
conquered the Spanish Peninsula, together with the rise, progress, and 
declension of the Mahometan power. Almost the whole of that country, 
as well as Portugal, yielded to the victorious arms of the Arabs. The 
two principal seats of government, which still exhibit striking remains 
of Arabian art, were Cordova and Granada : the former city became 
the metropolis of the Khilafat under Abdurrahman I. : and the latter 
was the capital of the kingdom of Granada, founded by Muhammad 
ibnu-l-Ahmar, in the year of the Hijra 634, A. D. 1236. On the decline 
of Cordova, the governors of the principal towns arrogated to themselves 
the powers and title of royalty : and hence Toledo, Saragossa, Seville, 
Valencia, Murcia, Badajos, and some other less important places, had 
their respective sovereigns. In consequence of their mutual jealousies, 
frequent wars, massacres, and intestine commotions, these petty mo- 
narchs were gradually subdued by the arms of Arragon, Castille, and 
Leon ; while the little kingdom of Granada, reinforced by fugitive 
Moslems from the cities conquered by the Spaniards, continued for three 
successive centuries to increase in population, wealth, and civilization ; 
and was governed by the laws and religion of Muhammad, until it was 
finally destroyed by Ferdinand and Isabella in 1492. 

The industry and commercial enterprise of the Arabs, which were 
encouraged by the wise policy of their greatest monarchs, contributed 
both to enrich and to adorn their country : and the remains of Arabian 
art still existing in Spain, together with the united testimonies of their 
historians, impress the mind with a high sense of their former grandeur. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



161 



It is, however, to be regretted, that no authentic description of the 
Peninsula, while under the dominion of the Moors, is accessible to 
European readers : and, consequently, our information is, comparatively 
speaking, scanty and imperfect.* But, though the writer of this article 
has not been able to procure a general account of Arabian Spain, yet 
happily there are extant numerous and valuable particulars relative to 
Cordova and Granada, the two principal seats of government : the fol- 
lowing accounts, therefore, which are chiefly confined to them, are given 
on the authority of Arabian historians ; and, it is hoped, will convey 
an interesting and novel idea of those celebrated kingdoms. 



SECTION I 

HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF CORDOVA. 



Ancient State of the City — Edifices erected by the Arabs — The royal Palace of 
Azzahra — Palace of Azzahira — Description of the Mosque — University of Cor- 
dova — Present State of the City. 

Cordova, at present, the second city in the province of Andalusia, 
forms a kind of semi-circular amphitheatre on the right bank of the 
Guadalquivir ; and is situated in an extensive and fertile plain at the 
foot of the ridge of mountains, called the Sierra Morena. It is distant 
from Madrid about 210 miles south-west, 112 miles north-west of Ma- 
laga, 84 miles north-east of Seville, and in the north latitude of 37° 40". 

* The celebrated Sharif Idrlsy, better known by the appellation of the Nubian geographer, wrote 
in Arabic a <; Description of Spain," while under the dominion of the Moors. The original work 
was never published : but a Spanish translation of it was executed by Don Joseph Antonio Conde ; 
who added notes, comparing the present state of the country with that described by the Arabian 
author. It was printed at the royal printing office at Madrid in 1799. This valuable treatise the 
author has in vain endeavoured to procure for the present work. 



162 THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 

It is a place of considerable antiquity, although the name of its founder 
has never been ascertained. By some authors, its erection is ascribed 
to the Phoenicians : and Silius Italicus, when enumerating the various 
colonies whose troops followed Hannibal into Italy, expressly mentions 
Cordova : 

Nec decus auriferae cessavit Corduba terrae. 

De Bell. Punic, lib. iii. v. 401. 

From which passage it should seem that this city was, even at that 
time, a place of considerable importance ; though Strabo * positively 
affirms it to have been founded by Marcellus during the civil wars be- 
tween Pompey and Caesar, and consequently long after the period 
mentioned by Silius Italicus. 

Cordova was called first Corduba, and afterwards Colonia Patricia, 
or simply Patricia, as appears from inscriptions on the numerous medals 
which have been discovered in this city and its neighbourhood. From 
the Romans it passed successively under the dominion of the Goths and 
Arabs : and, while the latter swayed the sceptre of Spain, Cordova 
became pre-eminently distinguished as the court of the western Khalifs, 
and as the seat of the arts, sciences, and literature. 

Of the splendour of Cordova, during the period when that city was 
the metropolis of Arabian Spain, some idea may be formed, from the 
following accounts which have been transmitted to us by Arabian his- 
torians. 



Ashshakandy f relates, in one of his works, that through Cordova, with 
the continuations of Azzahra and Azzahira, he had travelled ten miles 
by the light of lamps along an uninterrupted extent of buildings. It 
is, moreover, said that the buildings were continued to a length of eight 
parasangs, and a breadth of two ; or, twenty-four miles one way, and 

* Strabo, lib. iii. torn. i. p. 185. (ed. Oxon.) 

f Abu-1 Walld Ismail, an eminent man from Shakanda, which is an ancient town on the south 
side of the river, over against Cordova. He wrote a treatise on the excellence of Andalusia, in 
opposition to Abu Yahya, who vindicated that of Africa; and died at Seville in the year 629. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



163 



six the other : all this space being occupied by houses, palaces, mosques, 
and gardens, along the bank of the Guadalquivir. The circumference 
of the walls of the city, exclusive of the suburbs, was thirty-three thou- 
sand, one hundred cubits;* but, the suburbs consisted of twenty-one 
divisions ; in each of which were mosques, markets, and baths, adequate 
to the wants of the inhabitants ; so that the people of one division had 
no occasion, on those accounts, to enter another. During the civil wars 
that arose in the year 400 (A. D. 1009), and in which the decay of Cor- 
dova began, a ditch was dug round the suburbs, which were further 
surrounded by a wall built at the same time. 

Without Cordova, there were three thousand towns and villages ap- 
pertaining to it ; in each of which resided a divine of known erudition, 
who was appointed to instruct the people in the rules and ordinances 
of their religion . These officers were the patrons of the people : and 
every Friday, such of them as were in the neighbourhood of the city, 
came to public prayers with the Khalif in the great mosque ; to whom, 
after saluting him, each reported the state of his own town. In the 
days of Ibn Aby Aamir, the revenues of Cordova are said to have 
amounted to three millions of dinars, at a medium : and, in all the west, 
there was no city comparable to it, either with respect to population, 
extent of buildings, size of markets, cleanliness of streets, religious 
edifices, or number of baths and inns: in point of magnitude, it ap- 
proached very near to Baghdad. 

The people of Cordova were proverbially notorious for resisting their 
kings, and abusing their rulers : on which account, one of their go- 
vernors, being asked his opinion of them, said, " they are like the camel, 
<c which fails not to complain, whether you lighten, or aggravate, its 
" burthen ; so that there is no discovering what they are pleased with, 
" that you may seek it, nor what they dislike, that you may avoid it." 
They were, further, renowned for the elegance of their dress, attention 

* Ibn Ghalib, an Imam of Cordova, says, fourteen miles ; and another author estimates the cir- 
cuit of the city at fourteen miles, and its breadth at two miles : but, the first of these authors com- 
prises Shakanda, a division on the opposite side of the river, in the city, because it is an ancient 
walled town, and the latter may possibly do the same. 



164 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



to the duties of religion, pride in their great mosque, destruction of 
wine-shops wherever they might be discovered, connivance at various 
illicit practices, and glory in nobility of descent, as well as in warlike 
enterprise and science. Cordova likewise possessed a greater abundance 
of books than any other city of Spain, and its inhabitants were the most 
impassioned collectors of them in the world ; so that, among them, a 
man in power, who happened to be totally illiterate, would spare no 
labour or expense in amassing books, though merely for the sake of 
having it reported that he had a library, or was possessed of some 
unique work, or copy of a work. Of this passion for books, Alkhazramy 
has recorded the following instance. " During my residence in Cor- 
ec dova," says he, " I attended the book-market for a considerable time, 
" in the hope of finding a certain work which I was very anxious to 
ee obtain ; and, at length, to my great joy, it presented itself in an 
" elegant hand, with an appropriate commentary. I then bid for it, 
" and kept encreasing my bidding ; but still it returned to the crier,* 
" though the price was excessive. Surprised at this, I asked the man to 
" shew me who had outbid me for this book, to a sum so much beyond 
" its worth ; and he pointed out a person in the dress of a magistrate ; 
" to whom, on approaching, I said, May God exalt his worship the 
" Doctor ! if you are desirous of this book, I will relinquish it ; for, 
<e through our mutual biddings, the price is much above its value : he 
" replied, e I am no doctor, neither do I know what the book contains ; 
(( ' but I am anxious to complete a library which I am forming, that I 
" ' may appear respectable among the chiefs of the city : and, as there 
" c yet remains a vacant place capable of holding this book, which is 
" ' beautifully written and elegantly bound, I admire it and care not 
" ' how high I raise its price ; praise to God for the means he has been 
" ' pleased to grant me, which are not small ! ' Being at last induced 
fC to abandon the competition, I said, Well ! means are not abundant, 
" except with one like thee ; and, according to the proverb, c he gives 
" ' away the nut who has no teeth/ I, who am not ignorant of the 

* Evidently, a vendor similar to the modern auctioneers : and, this sale must have been conducted 
on the principles of an auction. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



165 



" contents of this book, and wish to make some use of it, having but 
" scanty means, am of necessity debarred it." Ibn Said further relates, 
that in a dispute between Ibn Rashid and Ibn Zahr, before Mansur, 
son of Abdulmumin, Ibn Rashid remarked to his opponent, " I know 
" not what thou sayest, except that when a learned man dies at Seville, 
<c and his books are to be sold, they are usually conveyed to Cordova 
" for that purpose ; and, that when a musician dies at Cordova, and 
" his effects are to be disposed of, the custom is to send them to 
" Seville." 

Cordova is described by Ibn Bashkuval as an ancient city, over 
which various dynasties of the gentile sovereigns have sucessively ruled, 
since the age of the prophet Moses. In it are primeval buildings and 
wonderful remains, beyond description, as well of the Greeks, as of 
the Romans, Goths, and other people that have passed away. After 
these, the Khalifs of the house of Mar wan invented for the palace 
of that city, elegant rarities ; erected in it amazing structures, with de- 
lightful gardens ; and conveyed to every quarter of it, at a vast expense, 
sweet water from the distant mountains, by means of leaden pipes ; 
from which it flowed into cisterns made of gold, silver, or plated brass, 
in various shapes ; as well as into vast lakes, curious basons, and 
amazing reservoirs, formed of the choicest Grecian marble, wonderfully 
carved. In this palace, too, was the high jet d'eau, to which no equal 
had been seen in the east of the earth or in the west. 

Beside the royal palace, above alluded to, there were several other 
celebrated palaces and gardens, distinguished by various names. 
One of the seven gates of the city had a balcony, unequalled in the 
world ; over this was a gate of iron, to which was affixed a bra. c s 
ring, in the likeness of a man with his month open, which the Emir 
Muhammad brought from Narbonne in France, when he subdued that 
city. 

Among the pleasure gardens or villas in Cordova, was that celebrated 
one constructed by Abdurrahman the first, at the commencement of his 
reign, to the north-west of the city, and called the Munyatu-r Rusafat. 
This mansion was the favourite residence of its founder, who named it 



166 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



Rusafat, after a similar edifice erected by his grandfather, Hisham, in 
Syria: and, it continued to be enlarged, beautified, and frequented by 
his successors. The palace was beautiful, and the gardens were not 
only extensive, but stocked with the choicest trees that could be col- 
lected, and that produced the most delicious fruits : from them, too, the 
gardens of Spain, in general, were shortly supplied with plants; be- 
cause their excellence was manifest over those of similar kinds : but, 
the Safary* peach, which in point of flavour, smallness of stone, 
abundance of juice, and beauty of form, has no equal, deduces its origin 
in Spain from these gardens. The manner of the introduction of this 
fruit into the country, and the reason of its name, are thus related. 
Abdurrahman sent an envoy to Syria for his two sisters ; and the man 
brought back many rarities, amongst which were some of these peaches 
from the gardens of Arrusafat. Being proud of them, the monarch 
shewed them to his friends ; and Safaru-bn Ubaid, happening to have 
one presented to him, was so delighted with it, that he preserved the 
stone ; and from it raised the tree, whence the peach, called after him, 
Safary, has been propagated in Spain. 

Without the city, was the palace of the Saiyid, Abu Yahya, erected 
on arches over the Guadalquivir. Its founder being asked why he, 
who had such an aversion for the people of Cordova, should take delight 
in building this palace ; he replied, that knowing how soon a governor 
was forgotten by them, after his removal, and that they held him in no 
estimation, when compared to the Khalifs of the house of Marwan, he 
wished to leave in the place some memorial of himself, in spite of them. 
Besides this, there were other celebrated palaces and gardens ; such as 
the palace of Dimishc (Damascus), built by the Khalifs of the house of 
Ummaiya, in a superb style ; the Munyatu-z Zubair, ascribed to Azzu- 
bair, a governor of Cordova ; the Munyatu-1 Mushafy ; the Kasru-1 
Farisy, a palace without the city ; the Fahsu-s Suradik ; and the 
Sadd. 

The river, Guadalquivir, is less at Cordova than at Seville ; its origin 

* This peach is still cultivated in some parts of Spain, particularly at Aranjuez ; and, is allowed 
by those who have tasted it to merit fully the eulogium here given. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



167 



being in the neighbourhood of Segura ; whence one stream flows east- 
ward to Murcia, and the other to Cordova and Seville. Over this river is 
a stone bridge, one of the most wonderful performance of art in Spain : it 
was built by Assamhu-bn Malik, one of the first Emirs, as is generally 
understood : or, as some say, by Abdurrahmanu-bn Ubaidillah, his suc- 
cessor, at the instance of the Khalif Omar, son of Abdulaziz : but, it 
was afterwards rebuilt and beautified by the Khalifs of the house of 
Ummaiya in Spain.* According to tradition, however, there was a 
bridge iu the same place, built about two hundred years before the ar- 
rival of the Arabs ; but, its arches being broken down, and its upper 
works demolished by time, Assamh raised his bridge, in the year 101 
of the Hijra, on the still remaining piers of the former one. The number 
of arches is seventeen ; j- the breadth of each being fifty spans, and the 
distance between each, fifty spans. The length of the bridge is eight 
hundred baa, J its breadth twenty baa, and its height sixty cubits : and, 
there are on it nineteen turrets. 

But one of the most wonderful edifices ever raised by man, was the 
palace or city of Azzahra, which was built by the Khalif Annasir, at 
the instigation of his mistress, Azzahra, and named after her. The 
occasion of it is thus related : one of the Khalifs concubines happening 
to die, possessed of considerable property, he commanded that it should 
be expended in the redemption of captives ; but, on enquiry, not one 
Moslem captive could be found in the dominions of the Franks : at 
which circumstance, Annasir rejoiced and returned thanks to God. 
His mistress, Azzahra, whom he loved excessively, then said to him, 
" build a city that may take my name, and be mine." In compliance 
with her request, Annasir, who surpassed his ancestors Muhammad, 
Abdurrahman u-1 Ausat, and Alhakam,in fondness of building, § founded 

* The Khalif Hisham. See a view of the bridge at Cordova, in plate IX. of the " Arabian 
Antiquities of Spain." f In another part it is said eighteen. 

j The baa is an Arabic measure, apparently the same, or nearly the same, as the cubit. 

§ Such was Annasir's passion for building, that he erected monuments of his greatness in all 
parts of Spain : and, through his unremitted attention to the edifice of Azzahra, he absented him- 
self three successive Fridays from the service at the great mosque; on which account, the Cadhy. 



168 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



this city under mount Alarus, at the distance of about three miles to 
the north from the present Cordova : Ibn Khallakan, however, says that 
the distance is four miles and one third. This structure, one of the 
most stupendous, most renowned, and most magnificent, erected by man, 
was begun on the first of Muharram in the year 325 : * and, to accom- 
plish it as well as his other undertakings in building, Annasir collected 
the most skilful architects and masons from Baghdad, Constantinople, 
and other parts. The revenues of Spain in his days amounted to five 
millions four hundred and eighty thousand dinars, collected by taxes ; 
and seven hundred and sixty-five thousand dinars, derived from markets; 
besides the tribute of one-fifth, levied on Christians and Jews, the sum 
of which equalled all the rest. Of this vast income, Annasir appro- 
priated one-third to the army, one-third to the treasury, and the re- 
maining third to public buildings, of which Azzahra was the principal. 

The number of men daily employed on this structure was ten thou- 
sand. The number of mules fourteen hundred, or, as some say, more 
than that number ; and four hundred camels, belonging to the Khalif ; 
and, of beasts of burthen, hired for the occasion, were one thousand 
mules, t engaged at the rate of three mithcals a month each. For the 
building, eleven hundred burthens of lime and gypsum were conveyed 
every third day. The daily pay of one part of the men employed, was 
a dirhem and a half each, and of another part two dirhems and one- 
third. The number of cut-stones, expended every day, was six thou- 
sand ; besides stones used in paving, uncut-stones, and bricks. The 
cost of each (block or pillar of) marble, whether great or small, was ten 
dinars, exclusive of the conveyance and carving. The white marble 
was brought from Almeria ; the streaked $ marble from Ziya ; the rose- 

Mundhir, who officiated in that place of worship, took the liberty of reproving the Khalif in pub- 
lic for his neglect. * About the 19th of November 936 of Christ. 

f Elsewhere, however, the number of beasts of burthen, employed in the building of Azzahra 
is said to be fifteen hundred : so that, perhaps, the four hundred camels compose a part of this 
number, and the remaining thousand or eleven hundred might be hired mules ; making fourteen 
or fifteen hundred to be the whole number of beasts of burthen actually engaged on this service; 

\ The word here translated " streaked," is not well known. In the Arabic it is Almujazza, and 
Jaza signifies the onyx ; whence this may possibly be a sort of marble resembling that precious stone. 



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169 



coloured and green, from the church of Isfakis, in Ifrikia, and from 
Carthage.* The carved gilt fountain was from Syria, or, as some say, 
from Constantinople : on it were engravings and images of human 
figures; and, the value of it was beyond estimation. When this was 
brought by Ahmad, the philosopher, f with Rabla, the Bishop, the 
Khalif commanded it to be placed in the middle of% the eastern hall, 
called Almunis ; and, on it he fixed twelve figures. The first was the 
likeness of a lion, on one side of which was an antelope, and on the 
other a crocodile ; opposite to the lion were a dragon and an eagle ; 
and, on the two wings ofthegroupe were a pigeon, a falcon, a peacock, 
a hen, a cock, a kite, and a vulture. These figures were made in the 
royal manufactory of Cordova, were of pure gold, set with precious 
stones : and, the water of the fountain flowed streaming through their 
mouths. 

In this palace, also, he built a hall, called the palace of the Khilafat ; 
the roof of which was of gold and of transparent blocks of marble of 
various colours, with the walls of the like structure : and, in the centre 
was fixed the pearl, presented to Annasir by Leo, Emperor of Constan- 
tinople. In the middle of this hall, or saloon, was a large marble 
basin filled with quicksilver : and, on each side, were eight doors, hung 
on arches§ of ivory and ebony, ornamented with gold and precious 
stones of various kinds, and, resting on pillars of variegated marble and 
pure chrystal. On the admission of the sun's rays through these doors, 
the splendour reflected from the roof and the walls was such as to 
deprive the beholder of sight. When Annasir wished to surprise or 
terrify any one in his company, he would make a sign to one of his 

* Another author says that the marble was brought from Carthage, Ifrikia, and Tunis, by 
Abdullahu-bn Yunas, chief builder, and Aliyu-bn Jaafar, the Alexandrian ; and, that Annasir 
paid them for every small block of marble, three dinars, and for every column, eight dinars. The 
place above written Ziya, is not known. It can hardly mean Siena ? The chief geometrician, 
or, perhaps, architect, is, in another part, called Muslimatu-bn Abdillah. 

•f- Elsewhere called Ahmad, the Greek. 

X Elsewhere said, " in the dormitory of the eastern hall." 

§ Possibly, the meaning may be rather, axis. 

z 



170 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



Sclavonians to put the quicksilver in motion ; the glare from which 
would strike the eye of the spectator like flashes of lightning, and alarm 
all present with the idea, that the room was in motion, as long as the 
agitation of the quicksilver continued. To this saloon, no one had 
before constructed any thing similar : and such was the abundance of 
quicksilver among the Arabs in Spain, that the design was formed of 
converting it to the purpose above described.* 

Ibn Haiyan relates, that this palace comprised four thousand three 
hundred and twelve columns, of various sizes. Of these, one thousand 
and thirteen are said to have been collected from Ifrikia ; nineteen from 
the countries of the Franks ; and the Emperor of Constantinople presented 
Annasir with one hundred and forty ; the rest were from different parts 
of Spain, as Tarragona and other places. The number of doors of 
every description, reckoning each flap or fold as one, exceeded fifteen 
thousand : and, all were covered with iron or copper, plated or gilt. 

The temple, or mosque, in the palace of Azzahra, was raised in the 
space of forty-eight days, though faultless in its construction. On this 
part of the building, one thousand skilful workmen were employed; of 
which three hundred were masons, two hundred were carpenters, and 
the remaining five hundred were other mechanics and labourers of dif- 
ferent kinds. This edifice had five aisles of wonderful fabric: the 
breadth of the central aisle was thirteen cubits from east to west ; and 
that of each of the four surrounding ones was twelve cubits. f The 

* Allusion is also made to an alcove or arched building (probably a room surmounted with a 
dome) which was of wonderful structure, and inlaid with gold and silver. The lesser dome, too, 
opposite to the part hereafter translated " polished balcony," is said to have been originally 
covered with tiles of gold and silver; but, in consequence of a reproof from the Cadhy, Mundhir, 
who ventured to express to his sovereign, even, his disapprobation of this proud display, the cover- 
ing was changed for earthen tiles, similar to those used on the rest of the structure. 

f There appears a disagreement of two cubits in the measurement of the breadth of the mosque ; 
as, the aisles are stated to be, one of them thirteen cubits, and the other four, each twelve cubits, 
in breadth ; but the whole breadth is rated at fifty- nine cubits only. The Arabic terms of archi- 
tecture are, generally, retained in the translation ; because, as the structure and divisions of the 
Mahometan temples are very different from ours, corresponding names are, consequently, wanting 
in our language for the various parts : and the meaning of these terms will, perhaps, be best dis- 



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1T1 



length from the Kibla to the Jauf, without the Maksura, was thirty 
cubits. The length of the open court from the Kibla to the Jauf, was 
forty-three cubits ; and the breadth of it, from east to west, was forty- 
one cubits : in the centre of this was a fountain ; and the whole was 
paved with rare marble. The entire length of the mosque, from the 
Kibla to the Jauf, exclusive of the Mihrab, which was a square of ten 
cubits by ten, was ninety seven cubits, and the breadth from east to 
west was fifty-nine cubits. On the day of the completion of this 
building, which was Thursday, the 23d of Shaaban, in the year 329 of 
the Hijra,* Annasir caused to be erected a pulpit of extraordinary 
design and beauty ; and, around it, he formed an extensive Maksiira, 
of a wonderful construction. 

There were, also, two public baths in Azzahra ; one for the court, 
and one for the common people. And such was Annasir's care for this 
vast undertaking, that he would commit the superintendance of it to 
none other than his son and successor, Alhakam. Notwithstanding the 
number of workmen employed, as above noted, this structure occupied 
the twenty-five years which remained of Annasir's life, after the com- 
mencement of the building ; and all the fifteen years and some months 
of his son's reign. A certain officer in Azzahra fixes the annual expense 
of this building at three hundred thousand dinars during the twenty- 
covered fey a reference to the plan of the great mosque at Cordova. (See the "Arabian Antiquities of 
Spain, Plate I.J. The Kibla is that side of the building which is supposed to regard Mecca; and 
the word seems, also, used to denote that portion of the interior of the mosque, which, adjoining 
lothis side, was occupied by the Mihrab and Maksura: the Jauf is the great body of the temple, 
extending from the Maksura to the side of the building opposite to the Kibla ; or, it is that side 
of ihe building itself : the Mihrab is the station of the officiating priest, when repeating the public 
prayers; and, the Maksura is a screen or inclosure, surrounding the Mihrab, with a portion of the 
mosque peculiar to the prince. The word here written aisle, means the space between each row 
of pillars, from the Kibla to the Jauf ; and, might have been more appropriately translated alley 
or walk, if either of the latter words conveyed an adequate idea to the English reader: lor 
there is no part of the building which can be denominated the nave ; and, when there is more 
than one series or extension on each side of the central division, it cannot be rightly designated by 
the term aisle, in the sense of a wing. 

* About the 23d of May, A. D. 941. 



172 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



five years which Annasir lived after the commencement : and, on his 
making a computation of the whole of the cost, it was found to amount 
to fifteen Bait Mai.* When this most beautiful and magnificent palace 
was completed, all who saw it agreed that there was nothing in the 
land of Islam to be compared with it : and, all travellers from distant 
countries, as well as of different ranks, whether princes, envoys, or 
merchants, who were conversant in edifices of the same kind, and who 
had surveyed this, confessed that they had not only not beheld any 
thing like it, but that they had not even heard of or imagined any thing 
similar : so that it was the chief wonder which travellers to Spain in 
those ages desired to behold : and, the descriptions of it are as copious 
as the proofs of their correctness are abundant. Had this palace, 
indeed, possessed nothing more than the polished balcony overhanging 
the matchless gardens, with the golden saloon and circular pavilion, 
and were regard had at the same time to the masterly workmanship of 
the structure, the boldness of the design, the beauty of the proportions, 
the elegance of the ornaments and decorations, whether of carved 
marble or of molten gold, the columns that seemed from their symmetry 
as if cast in moulds, the paintings that equalled the choicest bowers 
themselves, the vast but firmly constructed lake, and the fountains 
with the images of exquisite design — imagination could not even then 
have found out the way to describe it.f 

Some historians of Spain have recorded, that the number of male 
servants in Azzahra was thirteen thousand seven hundred and fifty; to 
whom the allowance of flesh meat, exclusive of fowls and fish, was 
thirteen thousand pounds daily : and that the number of women of 
various classes, or servants of other servants, was six thousand three 

* Bait Mai literally signifies a treasury ; but, in the sense of a definite quantity, as here appa- 
rently intended, the meaning is not known to the translator : if the sum given above, however, is 
the total of the expense during Annasir's reign only, at the rate before denoted, the Bait Ma.1 
then evidently signifies five hundred thousand dinars. 

-f- Besidfs the buildings appropriated to the use of the court, there were, in Azzahra, extensive 
receptacles and enclosures for wild beasts, spaces netted over for birds, and manufactories of arms 
and instruments of war, as well as of articles of dress and other things. 



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173 



hundred and fourteen. Besides these, there were three thousand 
seven hundred and fifty Sclavonian servants ;* but some authors say 
three thousand seven hundred and eight3'-seven, to whom thirteen 
thousand pounds of flesh meat were issued daily, some receiving ten 
pounds each, and others less, besides fowls, partridges, birds of other 
sorts, and fish of various kinds : it is, however, said that the Slavo- 
nians amounted to six thousand and eighty-seven. The allowance of 
bread daily for the fish in the lake of Azzahra, was twelve thousand 
loaves ; and six Kaf Izf of black pulse, also, were macerated for them 
every day. 

Over the gate of the palace, Annasir placed a statue of his mistress, 
after whom it was named : and, when she herself came to inhabit the 
place, noticing the contrast between the fairness of the structure and 
the dark hue of the adjoining mountain, she said, " see you not, my 
ec lord, the beauty of this fair damsel in the embrace of that negro ?" 
on account of which remark, he gave orders for the removal of the 
mountain : but, some one of the company representing to him that it was 
impossible for man to accomplish such a task, he directed that the trees 
then growing on it should be cut down, and that the whole should be 
covered with fig and almond trees ; so that no object could be more 
delightful than this became, especially in the season of flowering and 
the shooting forth of the leaves. 

The length of the palace of Azzahra from east to west, was two 
thousand seven hundred cubits ; and, its breadth was fifteen hundred 
cubits. Magnificent, however, as this palace was, it existed not long 
in its original state : for, in the contention between Abdurrahman, 
son of Mansvir ubn Aby Aamir, and Muhammad, surnamed Almuhdy, 
great grandson of Annasir, Cordova was taken, and the demolition of 

* Perhaps employed as guards. 

■f A large dry measure, containing twelve Saa ; and, each Saa is about five pounds and one 
third in weight. In another part of the original manuscript, however, it is said, that eight hundred 
loaves were furnished daily for the fish in the lakes ; whence it seems likely that an error exists 
here. Perhaps the quantity of twelve thousand loaves was the daily allowance to the establishment 
of Azzahra ; and, eight hundred, with the black pulse, the actual distribution to the fishes. 



174 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



Azzahra begun ; which was in the year 399.* The victorious army, 
under Almuhdy, being on that occasion, composed of the lowest class 
of the people, such as coal-heavers, butchers, and dung-men, they 
attacked the nobles, deposed the Khalif, Hisham, and greatly injured 
his palace of Azzahra. 

On the usurpation of the government from Hisham, son of Alhakam, 
by his Hajib, Mansuru-bn Aby Aamir, the latter shut up the Khalif in 
Azzahra ; and, for his own security and residence, built the palace of 
Azzahira, on the bank of the river, adjoining to that of the Khalif. 
This edifice was begun in 368 ;f and, the greatest part of it being com- 
pleted in two years, Mansur deposited there his treasures, stores, and 
arms ; and, with his family, servants, guards, and satellites entered it in 
the year 370. Within it he fixed the offices of state ; formed magazines 
of grain, and erected mills ; and, ha ving granted the adjoining lands to 
his Vizirs, Secretaries, Generals, and Chamberlains, they built magni- 
ficent houses and palaces in its neighbourhood. But, others, also, 
being ambitious of fixing their abodes near it, to approach the ruler of 
the state, eagerly built all around : so that the suburbs of Azzahira, at 
length, joined those of Cordova. The Khalif, then, became divested of 
every thing but a name ; as Mansur not only wrote to all the provinces 
of Spain and Africa, commanding that the tribute should be forwarded 
to his palace, and that the governors and agents in any affair should 
withhold their attendance on the Khalif, and proceed to his court ; but, 
he even shut up the gate of the Khalif s residence, by means of the 
guards and door-keepers stationed for that purpose ; so that the nominal 
sovereign, of whom mention was made only on the coins, and in the 
public prayers, was totally excluded from his friends, and seen by nei- 
ther high nor low : whilst Mansur held his stated courts in Azzahira, to 
which the ministers, chiefs, and generals flocked ; received all addresses ; 
established in the gate of it a praetorian tribunal, with a president, in 
the manner of the Khalifs ; and, was resorted to by the people from 
every quarter. 

This palace, however, like that of Azzahra, was attacked by the po- 
* A. D. 1008 or 1009. f 978 or 979 of Christ. 



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175 



pular army of Almuhdy in the year 399 ; and is said to have then 
been levelled with the ground, as being the residence of the usurpers 
against whom that war was raised. This Almuhdy, whom Almansur 
thought not worthy his notice, not only cut off the family and annihi- 
lated the dynasty of the latter, but demolished the very edifices which 
he had founded.* 

In the beginning of the year 329, t Annasir finished the construction 
of an astonishing aqueduct, which conveyed excellent water by means 
of canals geometrically formed on arches, from the mountain of Cordova 
to the palace of Annaura (or the water-works) in the city. There the 
water was discharged into a vast reservoir ; on which was a great and 
terrible lion of so admirable a figure, that none devised by the princes 
of former times had been seen more beautiful. It was covered with the 
purest gold ; and its two eyes were two jewels. A gigantic Fuller, 
moreover, was represented close behind the lion, pouring out water from 
his mouth upon him in the reservoir. After supplying the gardens of 
this palace in all parts, notwithstanding their great extent, the su- 
perabundant water served to augment the Guadalquivir : and this aque- 
duct, by which the water began to flow on Thursday, the tenth of the 
latter Jumady, was constructed in the short space of fourteen months. 
When we consider its length, together with the unfavourable nature of 
the country through which it was brought, the magnitude of its build- 
ings, the height of the towers X over which the water passed, and its 
reservoir, with the image from which the water flowed, this may be 
numbered among the most astonishing performances of kings in every 
age. 

The great Mosque of Cordova § was begun by Abdurrahman, sur- 
named Addakhil (the enterer) ; who, having established his sovereignty 

* The supposed site of the palace of Azzahra is still frequented by the Spaniards, by whom it 
is greatly admired for the beauty of its surrounding scenery, and the salubrious quality of the air 
and water. -f 940 or 941 of Christ. 

J Perhaps, ventilating towers. 

.§ Of this Mosque and its inscriptions, Mr. Murphy's " Arabian Antiquities of Spain " present 
several interesting views. See Plates I. to VIII. 



176 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



in Spain, applied himself to enlarge and adorn Cordova, his capital : 
but, his son Hisham may be said to have completed this undertaking, 
which the father left in an unfinished state ; though succeeding Khalifs 
so continued to augment it, that the whole edifice may be ascribed to 
the concentrated piety of eight sovereigns of the house of Ummaiya. 
The spot, on which it is founded, being the site of a Christian church, 
was bought by Abdurrahman for one hundred thousand dinars ; and, 
he is said to have expended on building eighty thousand dinars : but, 
his son and successor, Hisham, has the credit of devoting, to the con- 
tinuance of the work, one hundred and sixty-one thousand dinars, all 
derived from tribute paid by the infidels. 

Beside the continual additions made by succeeding Khalifs to this 
mosque, Almansuru-bn Aby Aamir, who supplanted their dynasty, 
greatly extended the edifice : and, in what he did, he employed Christian 
captives, taken from Castille and other parts, who laboured in chains 
on this occasion. Having determined to augment the mosque, Almansiir 
went himself to the owners of the houses he wished to remove for this 
purpose ; and, after they had agreed to sell him their possessions at a 
very high price, he gave them double of what they demanded, and to 
each of them another house to reside in : but, coming to a woman who 
had a house iu the court of the mosque, with a palm-tree belonging to 
it, she refused to part with them on any terms, except for another habi- 
tation with a palm-tree ; which he engaged to procure her, if it should 
cost even a bait mal ; * and, one was obtained for her at an exorbitant 
price. 

The author of the work entitled Majmu'ul Muftarik, says, that the 
length of the roof over the aisles, before the augmentation (byAlmansur), 
was two hundred and twenty-five cubits from the Kibla to the Jauf ; 
the breadth, from east to west, was one hundred and five cubits ; and 
the whole length was three hundred and thirty cubits: but Almansiir 
added, by the command of the Khalif Hisham, f to the breadth on the 
east side, eighty cubits. The number of aisles was at first eleven ; the 

* Literally, " a house of wealth; " but from the use made of this term before, it seems to mean 
the definite sum of five hundred thousand dinars. f Hisham, son of Alhakam. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



177 



breadth of the central one being sixteen cubits ; that of each of the two 
next, both to the east and the west, fourteen cubits ; and that of each 
of the remaining six, eleven cubits : but Almansur added eight ailes of 
ten cubits each in breadth ; and this addition was completed in two 
years and a half, Almansur himself labouring at it. The length of 
the court, from east to west, was one hundred and twenty-eight cubits ; 
its breadth, from the Kibla to the Jauf, one hundred and five cubits ; 
the breadth of the porticos of the colonnade that surrounded the court, 
was ten cubits ; and the area of the building * is thirty-three thousand 
one hundred and fifty square cubits. 

Ibn Said, copying from Tbn Bashkuval, says that the length of the 
mosque of Cordova, from the Kibla to the Jauf, is three hundred and 
thirty cubits ; of the court, the uncovered part is eighty cubits, and the 
rest is tiled over : the breadth of the mosque from west to east is two 
hundred and fifty cubits : the number of aisles, comprising those built 
to the north by Almansur, is nineteen. The number of doors, great 
and small, is twenty-one : f namely, on the west side, nine ; of which 
there is one great door, by which the women entered into their recesses : 
on the east side, nine ; of which eight are for the men : on the north 
side, three doors ; of which there are two large ones for the men, and 
one for the women to enter by into their recesses : but, on the side of 
the Kibla, there was only one door, which was on the south side of the 
Maksiira, and through which, by an enclosed way reaching from the 
Khalifs palace, the sovereign passed on a Friday into the mosque, to 
join in the public worship. All these doors were covered with the 
choicest Andalusian brass, in an astonishing manner. Another author, 
however, describes the doors as being only nine ; X of which three 
opened into the court : namely, one to the east, one to the west, and 
one to the Jauf; four, into the aisles; namely, two on the east, and 
two on the west sides ; and two led into the recesses for women. 

* Not of the mosque after the additions made by Almansur ; but nearly what it was previously. 
•f Doors for the public, apparently ; as the Khalif s seems not included in this number : and, 
each is said to have been furnished with a ring of exquisite design and fabric. 
| Perhaps the real number, before the augmentation of Almansur. 

a a 



178 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



The number of columns,* all of marble, is, according to one author, 
twelve hundred and ninety-three ; but, another author says, fourteen 
hundred and seventeen : whilst Ibn Bashkuval states them 1o be four- 
teen hundred and nine ; of which the latter describes one hundred and 
nineteen to be comprised in the Maksura, which Alhakam constructed. 
This Maksura, which is of rare construction, extends across five aisles 
in the addition made by Alhakam, and its wings pass through the re- 
maining six, of which three are on each side : its length, from west to 
east, is seventy-five cubits ; its breadth, from the wooden screen or par- 
tition to the columns of the mosque in the Kibla, is twenty-two cubits ; 
the height of it to the pinnacles, is eight cubits ; and the height of each 
pinnacle is three spans. To this Maksura were three doors of an ex- 
traordinary fabric, and beautifully carved, leading by the east, west, 
and north, into the body of the mosque. 

The length of the Mihrab (or chancel, where the Imam looking to- 
wards Mecca, repeats the prayers) is eight cubits and a half from the 
Kibla to the Jauf ; its breadth, from east to west, is seven cubits and a 
half ; and, the height of the tabernacle is thirteen cubits and a half. 
On the side of this was the pulpit, equalled by none other in the world 
for workmanship and materials. It was formed of the most precious 
woods, such as ebony, sandal, Bresil, citron wood, wood of aloes, &c. 
The making of this, which was constructed by the Khalif Alhakam, 
lasted seven years : eight artists were employed on it, to each of which 
was paid half a Muhammady mithcal a day : the cost of it is said to have 
amounted to thirty-five thousand, seven hundred and five dinars, three 
dirhems and one third : f and the steps, by which it was ascended, were 
nine in number. 

The door of the Maksura was of gold, as was the wall of the Mihrab ; 
and the parts adjacent were adorned with the same precious metal : 

* In some cases, however, four columns were united under one capital ; and the marble above 
and below was adorned with gold and lapis lazuli. There were, also, three red columns ; on one 
of which was written the name of Muhammad 5 on another was the likeness of Moses's staff, and 
the sleepers of the cave ; and, on the third, was the figure of Noah's crow ! 

f In another place it is said to have cost ten thousand and fifty mithcajs. 



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179 



but, the floor of the Maksura was of pure silver. In the part of this 
mosque, too. appropriated to the pulpit, was deposited a copy of the 
Coran, written, as it is generally supposed, by the Khalif, Othman ; 
who is said to have presented a transcript to each of the four cities, 
Mecca, Basra, Kufa, and Damascus ; and this must have been one of 
them, if it was in fact written as above described. It is, however, most 
probable, that Othman never made any copy of the Coran : but, be that 
as it may, the manuscript, here alluded to, was preserved in a case of 
gold set with pearls and rubies, over which was a bag of gold tissue ; 
and, this was placed on a throne made of wood of aloes, with nails of 
gold : and, as it was greatly prized by Mahometans in general, the 
Sultan Abii-1 Hasan took it away, on Friday the eleventh of Shavwal, 
in the year five hundred and fifty-two, and conveyed it to Africa. From 
that country it was brought back to the peninsula by the Portugueze, 
who obtained possession of it in an invasion of Africa ; but, being ig- 
norant of its value, they guarded it so ill, that some one found an 
opportunity to sieze and restore it to the Africans. 

The height of the tower, now existing, which was built by the Khalif, 
Annasir, is seventy-two cubits to the top of the open dome, towards 
which the crier turned his back, when proclaiming the hour of prayers. 
On the summit of this dome are three celebrated apples ; two of which 
are of pure gold, and the middle one of silver. The tower is covered 
with copper, and these ornaments on its top are grouped with a six- 
fold lily* of gold, in a most elegant manner. Each of these apples is 
three spans and a half in circumference ; and the small peach of gold, 
which rises a cubit above the top of the dome, is one of the wonders 
of the earth. This tower is not so lofty as that at Seville, or that at 
Marocco ; the latter being one hundred and ten cubits in height. In 
the tower, now existing, there are two stair-cases ; each separated by 
masonry from the other ; but the old one which Annasir demolished 
in the year 340, t had only one passage for ascent and descent. The 
foundation is a square of eighteen cubits by eighteen : the height to 

* Or, perhaps, a six-petalled lily : but it is said in another part, that above and below each 
3pple was a lily, contrived in an extraordinary fashion. f A. D. 951 or 952. 



180 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



the station, whence the hours of prayer were proclaimed, is fifty-four 
cubits: and, the erection of this part of the edifice was completed in 
thirteen months. 

The reason of the great addition made by Almansur was the actual 
want of room for the people of Cordova : for, when the tribes of Barbars 
had been drawn to it from Africa, and, the allurements of the place 
were known in the extremes of Gallicia, its suburbs and every other 
part teemed with inhabitants ; and the great mosque became incapable 
of receiving the congregation which flocked to it. As the Khalif's 
palace adjoined to the mosque on the west side, Almansur could not 
extend the edifice, except to the east : great, however, as his under- 
taking was, which surpassed even what Alhakam had performed, it was 
executed in the most substantial and complete manner. Almansur, 
also, made the great well in the court : and, in the opinion of the 
Arabian historian, it was he who first caused wax to be burned in the 
mosque, in addition to oil ; so that the effect of both lights was produced 
at the same time. 

The number of chandeliers, of different sizes, in the mosque, besides 
those over the gates, was two hundred and eighty ; and the number of 
cups that contained the oil of the lamps, seven thousand four hundred 
and twenty-five, or, according to other accounts, ten thousand eight 
hundred and five. Of cotton for the wicks of the lamps, three fourths of 
a Kintar* was necessary for each month : and, the oil expended annu- 
ally, amounted to one hundred and twenty-five kintars ; about half of 
which was used in the month of Ramazan: and, for this month, three 
kintars of wax, with three quarters of a kintar of cotton thread used in 
preparing the wax, were requisite, over and above the ordinary allow- 
ance. The great wax taper, that burned by the side of the Imam, was 
from fifty to sixty pounds in weight : and, such a portion of it was 
consumed each night, that the whole might be finished on the last night 
of Ramazan. The chandeliers were all of brass, and of various patterns, 
except three, which were of silver : and, four greater than the rest were 
suspended in the centre aisle, of which the largest hung in the great 
Kibla, where the scriptures were placed ; but, these great chandeliers, 
* The same as the Spanish quintal ; or, about one hundred and twenty pounds weight. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



181 



each of which consumed nightly seven quarterns* of a kintar of oil, were 
only illuminated on the ten last nights of the month Ramazan : and, 
according to Ibn Bashkuval, whose account is perhaps better deserving 
of credit than the one before given, the annual expenditure of oil was 
two hundred and twenty-five kintars, of which three fourths were 
expended in the month of Ramazan. Another author, however, fixes 
the annual consumption of oil at one thousand and thirty quarterns 
of a kintar ; and he allows five hundred quarterns for the month of Ra- 
mazan : he, also, mentions, that the three silver chandeliers required 
seventy-two pounds weight of oil each night. 

The speculum, or reflector, is said to have been composed of thirty- 
six thousand pieces ; and, each piece to have consisted of seven dirhems 
of silver: it was, moreover, adorned with nails of gold and silver ; and, 
in some parts, with precious stones. The effect of this was nine-fold. 
The circumference of the greatest chandelier was fifty spans: and, 
it held one thousand and eighty four cups (for oil), each of which was 
gilt. 

Over the extremity of the Mihrab were placed on columns seven 
bows,t of more than an ell in length each ; the beautiful position of 
which astonished all Europeans as well as Moslems : and, at the two 
door-posts of the Mihrab were four pillars, which exceeded all estima- 
tion in value ; two of them being of green marble, and two of lapis 
lazuli. 

Ibn Bashkuval relates, that Alhakam demolished the old reservoir 
for purification in the court of the mosque ; to which the water was 
conveyed by beasts of burthen : and, in its place, substituted in the 
court four great cisterns ; which he caused to be hewn out of the solid 
rock at the foot of the mountain of Cordova ; and, to be each drawn, 
on a machine constructed for the purpose, by seventy of the strongest 

* A measure, or weight, similar to the Arroba of the Spaniards ; this word being, in fact, the 
same as the Arabic, and meaning ec the fourth" of a kintar, or weight of about one hundred and 
twenty pounds English. 

*f The word here translated bows, is, like the Latin word arcus, ambiguous ; and, the meaning 
may be seven arches, of more than an ell in leDgth each, &c. 



182 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



draught oxen, after a road had been levelled and prepared. These 
cisterns, or reservoirs, were of marble : a large one for the men, and a 
smaller one for the women, were fixed on both the east and west sides of 
the court : and they were replenished by means of pipes laid to the foot 
of the mountain of Cordova. By the same conduit, moreover, excellent 
water was brought to three marble receptacles, fixed at the doors on the 
east, west, and north sides of the mosque, for the public accommo- 
dation. 

The number of people employed in the mosque, such as priests, 
readers, wardens, door-keepers, proclaimers of the times of prayer, 
lighters of the lamps, and the like, was, in the time of Almansur, one 
hundred and fifty-nine: but, Ibn Bashkuval, whose account best 
deserves credit, says, that the attendants amounted to three hundred in 
the times of the Khalifs, and of Almansur. On the last night of the 
month Ramazan, four ounces of light coloured amber, and eight ounces 
of wood of aloes, were burnt by way of incense: but, some historians 
say, that one pound of wood of aloes, and a quarter of a pound of 
amber, were allotted to the mosque, every Friday, for this purpose. 

The Arabs of Spain imitated the conduct of Ubaidatu-bnu-1 Jarrah 
and Khalidu-bnu-1 Walid, when these subdued Syria, in dividing the 
churches with the Christians, agreeable to the advice of Omar. Accord- 
ing to this maxim, the Moslems and the Barbarians parted between 
them the principal church of Cordova, called St. Vincent's : and, on 
this, their portion, the Moslems built a great mosque, whilst the other 
part remained in the hands of the Christians, and all the churches in 
Cordova sunk to decay. With what they possessed, however, the 
Moslems remained satisfied : and, as the population of Cordova, where 
the chiefs of the Arabs took up their abode, continued to encrease, aisles 
were at different times subjoined to this mosque ; the roof of each suc- 
cessive one being inferior to the preceding, till that of the last aisle was, 
in fact, so low, that the people could not stand up with ease under it. 
In this state, the temple continued during the government of the Emirs : 
but, when Abdurrahman, son of Muavia, had gained possession of the 
kingdom, and fixed himself at Cordova, he examined into the state of 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 183 

the mosque ; and, wishing to enlarge it, he sought to purchase of the 
Christians their share of the church, which was adjoining to the mosque, 
but they refused to sell. After much solicitation, however, they at 
length assented ; on condition of being allowed to repair the churches, 
gone to decay, on the outside of the city ; and, of holding them exclu- 
sively of the Moslems : this point being settled, Abdurrahman laid the 
foundation of the present great mosque of Cordova. 

Hisham, son of Abdurrahman, enlarged and completed what his 
father had founded. 

Abdurrahman Alausat, son of Hisham, enlarged the mosque : and, 
Muhammad, son of the latter, finished what was incomplete at the 
death of his father. 

Almundhir repaired the mosque, and Annasir renewed some parts, 
besides taking down the old tower, and building the present one. 

But, Alhakam, son of Annasir, made the greatest additions,* on 
account of the encrease of the population of Cordova : and, last of all, 
the Hajib Almansur erected the eight additional aisles on the east side, 
as before described. 

On the west side of this mosque, Alhakam built a house for the dis- 
tribution of alms : and, over against the great western gate, he erected 
houses for the reception of the poor. 

With respect to the other public, as well as private buildings of 
Cordova, it is recorded, that in the days of Abdurrahman Addakhil, the 
first sovereign of the house of Ummaiya in Spain, the number of 
mosques in that city was four hundred and ninety ; but, it became 
much greater afterwards. Some have asserted, that the number of 
towers, from which the people were summoned to prayers, was four 
thousand three hundred. In the great castle, there were upwards of 
four hundred and thirty houses : and, during the sovereignty of the 
Matunaand Muhadite dynasties, the number of houses inhabited by the 
common people within the walls, and exclusive of those occupied by 

* The expense of the additions he made, amounted to two hundred and sixty one thousand five 
hundred and thirty-seven dinars, two dirhems and a half. 



184 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



the nobles and officers of state, amounted to one hundred and thirteen 
thousand : at that period, too, there were six thousand three hundred 
houses belonging to the people of the government. The number of 
the suburbs was twenty-eight ; or, as others say, twenty-one : that of 
the mosques, three thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven : that of 
public baths, seven hundred; or according toothers, three hundred. 
Ibn Haiyan, however, states the number of mosques, in the time of 
Almansur, when Cordova was at its highest pitch of greatness, to have 
been sixteen hundred ; and, that of baths, nine hundred.* Still, 
according to an ancient chronicle, there were three thousand eight 
hundred and seventy-seven mosques ; nine hundred and eleven baths ; 
one hundred and thirteen thousand houses for the common people ; and, 
perhaps, half that number for the nobles, and such as were in the em- 
ployment of government. 

It is, however, asserted by one of the learned, that in the reign of 
Almansur, the houses of Cordova, and of the suburbs, were numbered, 
and found to amount to two hundred and twelve thousand, or two 
hundred and thirteen thousand and seventy-seven, inhabited by the 
common people, and sixty thousand three hundred occupied by the 
nobles, ministers, secretaries, military people, and other dependants of 
the state ; besides hotels, baths, and taverns. The number of shops at 
this time was eighty thousand four hundred and fifty-five. In the civil 
war which took place about the beginning of the fourth century of the 
Hijra, not only was a great part of these buildings demolished, but also 
the traces of some of the quarters were razed to the ground, f 



* Of these baths, one only survives the wreck of time, or the desolations of the Spaniards. 

■f In the preceding accounts, which are extracted from various authors, the reader will doubtless 
have observed considerable disagreements in various particulars. These differences, however, 
must be attributed either to the changes in the state of things at the various periods when the 
authors wrote, as in the numbers of mosques and houses, or to the diversity of measures adopted 
by them. For instance, in enumerating the columns in the grand mosque at Cordova, the small 
pillars appear to be omitted in the computations of some writers ; while others have indiscrimi 
nately, reckoned all the columns, of whatever size they might have originally been. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



185 



Such was Cordova in her ancient state of splendor, of which nume- 
rous valuable remains are still in existence, particularly the mosque 
and bridge, monuments of the munificence and piety of the western 
Khalifs. But the honours of this city are not confined to the grandeur 
of her public edifices:* for Cordova has, from remote ages, been cele- 
brated as the abode of learning, as well as the seat of the fine arts. 

While under the dominion of the Romans, Cordova possessed a 
celebrated university, in which rhetoric and philosophy were particu- 
larly studied : and it also had a Greek professorship. The elder Seneca, 
and Lucius Anneeus Seneca, preceptor to Nero, were natives of this 
city, as likewise were the poets, Lucan, and Sextilius Henna of whose 
writings one elegy only is extant. Here also studied the orators, 
Acilius Lucanus, the father of the poet, Gallio, and Porcius Ladro of 
whose works there remains a single harangue ; besides other eminent 
persons. That the literary celebrity of Cordova did not decline under 
the Moorish government, the following pages will abundantly evince :f 
it will be sufficient, therefore, here to state, that the learned Casiri has 
recorded^ the names and writings of nearly one hundred and seventy 
eminent men — natives of that city, in order to prove, that the Arabians 
had preserved to its university the reputation it had acquired during 
the time of the Romans. 

* The ancient palace of the Moorish Sovereigns has been converted into stables, in which a 
hundred Andalusian horses are usually kept, whose genealogy is carefully preserved. Peyron's 
Essais sur l'Espagne, in M. Bourgoing's " Modern State of Spain," vol. iv. pp. 224, 225. To 
which we are indebted for the Account of Cordova, previously to the time of the Moors. 

■f See Part II. Chapter I. Sections I. and II. 

X In his <e Bibliotheca Arabico-Hispana Escurialensis," 2 vols, folio, Madrid, 1760, 1770. In 
this elaborate catalogue of Arabic MSS. chiefly composed by the Spanish Arabs, and which are 
now preserved in the royal library at the Escurial, Casiri has interspersed numerous historical 
notices of many of the authors, some of whose works he has epitomised or translated j and has 
further enriched them with many valuable philological remarks and disquisitions. 

Bb 



J 86 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



Among the distinguished characters of more modern times, who were 
natives of Cordova, the most celebrated is Gonzalvo de Cordova, better 
known by the appellation of the Great Captain ; who signalized himself 
by his military achievements against the Moors. 

Far different from its ancient prosperity is Cordova, in its present 
state. Under the administration of Almansur, we have seen, that the 
number of houses in this city amounted to two hundred and sixty-two 
thousand three hundred, of various classes ; which, at the rate of only 
three persons to each house, gives a population of nearly seven hun- 
dred thousand persons. Some modern writers estimate the number of 
inhabitants in Cordova, under the Khalifs, at one million ;* who had 
decreased to sixty thousand in the 16th century, and at present do not 
exceed thirty-five thousand. The entire population of the kingdom of 
Cordova, according to the census made in 1803, was only three 
hundred and eighty-three thousand two hundred and twenty -six 
persons. 

The vicinity of the city of Cordova is the most productive in grain 
and olive trees in the whole district : a few manufactories of ribbons, 
galloons, hats, and baize, however, are all that remain of its once 
celebrated fabrics ; which, while they furnished employment to its 
numerous population, greatly promoted the wealth and prosperity of 
the kingdom. 

* Manuel G^ographique et Statistique de l'Espagne, &c. p. 160. (8vo. Paris, 1810). 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



187 



SECTION II. 

HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE KINGDOM AND CITY OF GRANADA. 



Tfie Kingdom of Granada — Its extent — Ancient History of the City of Granada 
— Its Name — Situation — Surrounding Country — Public Edifices — The Alhamra 
< — By whom founded and augmented — Observations on its Arrangement and 
Architecture — Royal Villa of Al Generalife — Population — Public Library, and 
University of Granada. 

The kingdom of Granada, which formed part of the Roman province 
of Boetica in ancient Spain was founded by Muhammad I. surnamed 
Ibnu-l-Ahmar, and, under his successors acquired great celebrity. It 
comprised those parts of Spain which lie in the south-eastern corner of the 
peninsula; and, in its most flourishing period never exceeded seventy 
leagues in length from east to west, and twenty-five in breadth from 
north to south. This kingdom is stated by its historian, Ibnu-1 KatTb, 
better known by the name of Alkhatib, to have contained thirty-three 
regions or districts, which he briefly enumerates and describes ;* toge- 
ther with their principal cities : but, as it is by no means easy to ascer- 
tain the Arabian names of these places, our attention will necessarily 
be confined to the cities of Granada and Seville. 

The ancient history of Granada, previously to the time of the Moors, 
is involved in impenetrable obscurity. The Granadine antiquaries, 
indeed, insist that this city was a colony of the Phoenicians, known to 
the Romans by the name of Illiberia if but the earliest authentic notice 

* Ibnu-1 Khatib, in Casiri's Bibliotheca Arabico-Escurialensis, t. ii. pp. 246 — 260. 
f Razes, as cited by Pedraza, states this city to have been founded by the Hebrews, and that 
it was called the Jews city : and, according to the Spanish antiquarian, the most ancient towers 



188 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



which we have of its existence, does not carry its origin higher than 
the time of the Spanish Arabs, by whom it appears to have been founded 
in the third century of the Hijra, or the tenth century of the Christian 
era, at which time it formed part of the Khilafat of Cordova. In the 
year of the Hijra 634 (A. D. 1236) it became the metropolis of the 
kingdom of Granada, then recently established, and the splendid mo- 
numents of Arabian architecture which still remain, exhibit permanent 
memorials of the taste and splendour of its Mahometan sovereigns. 

Granada, says Ibnu-1 KhatTb, by foreigners* called Garanata, or the 
city of strangers, by the Arabs the Damascus of Spain, formerly be- 
longed to the celebrated city of Albira, whence it was distant about 
four miles. By the mild temperature of its climate, and the other qua- 
lities of its soil, it certainly is not unlike to Damascus : and its distance 
from Cordova, the first and ancient residence of the western Khalifs, is 
about ninety miles south-east. Granada is further described as " the 
<e metropolis of the most maritime towns — the proud head of the whole 
" kingdom — the noble emporium of merchants — the most beneficent 
" parent of sailors — the resort and receptacle of strangers from every part 
" of the earth — the perpetual garden of fruits rapidly succeeding each 
" other — the most grateful abode of men — the public treasury — the city 
Cf most famous for its fields and fortifications — an immense sea of grain 
c£ and of most excellent leguminous plants, and a fertile mine of silk and 

and walls are of Phoenician workmanship. Pedraza, however, it must be observed, was not very 
careful in the authorities he consulted. See his Antiguedad de Granada, p. 32. Much learned 
trifling has been bestowed by antiquarians, in conjectures on the probable derivation of the name 
of this city. The most favourite and generally received opinion (which perhaps is as well founded 
as any other) is, that it is so called from the resemblance which its position bears to a ripe pome- 
granate (Granatum); the two hills on which the city stands representing the bursting skin, and the 
houses, which are crowded into the intermediate valley, the pips. In conformity with this notion, 
the arms of Granada are, a crowned pomegranate, half open, shewing the coloured seeds, in a field 
argent; and they are affixed to every gate or ornamented post in the streets and public walls. 
Pedraza, ut supra. Swinburne's Travels in Spain, vol. i. 218. According to Pedraza (p. 2.) Granada 
is situated in latitude 37°, 50'; but Francisco Dalman, who published a map of the kingdom in 
1796, makes its latitude to be 37°, 22'. 
* By foreigners he means Hebrews, or Phoenicians. Casiri, torn. ii. p. 247. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



189 



" sugar." That these lofty titles were not misapplied or exaggerated 
by the partial affection of a native writer, will readily appear from the 
following description of its situation, and of the noble edifices by which 
it was adorned. 

" At a short distance from the city rises a mountain, called the Sierra 
(Nevada), celebrated for the whiteness of its snows, and the excellence 
of its waters. To this must be added the salubrity of the air, nume- 
rous most delightful gardens, together with a great variety of plants, 
and the choicest aromatics. Among its rare gifts, this is pre-eminent, 
that corn fields, meadows, and pastures, may be seen in any season of 
the year. Its territory abounds with gold, silver, lead, iron, tutty, 
marcasites, and sapphire stones : among the plants growing on its 
mountains, and also in the marshes, are to be found the sulphur-wort, 
gentian, and spikenard. Here, also, is obtained the kermes,* with 
which a scarlet dye is imparted to silk ; and of this article a sufficient 
quantity is raised both for domestic consumption, and also for the pur- 
poses of commerce. The silken stuffs, manufactured from it, are 
deservedly reputed to be far superior to those of Assyria, in beauty, 
softness, and fineness of texture." 

" The surrounding country is most delightful, rivalling indeed the 
beautiful fields of Damascus, and equally convenient for riding or 
walking, by day or by night. It naturally spreads into a plain, f that is 

* The Coccus Ilicis of Naturalists : this insect was anciently supposed to be a berry. 

■f* This plain is now called the Vega de Granada ; and, though not cultivated to the same 
extent, and with the same ability which the Spanish Arabs bestowed upon it, it is still one of the 
most delightful spots the traveller can behold. Meadows, corn fields, rivers, forests, and woods, 
interspersed with villas, and bounded by mountains, whose summits are covered with perpetual 
snows, while their declivities are covered with vineyards, olive, orange, citron, and mulberry trees, 
are here to be seen in rich abundance ; and all together present a rare spectacle of luxuriance and 
beauty. Few places, indeed, offer a more striking assemblage of objects, deserving the attention 
of the antiquarian, the naturalist, and the artist. " Vestiges of Punic, Roman, and Arabian 
works. Mountains pregnant with minerals and marbles. Grand romantic scenes, which may 
invite the pencil of a Poussin or a Claude. The fruitful vale, or paradise, as it has been often 
called, fronting the city, is one of the finest pictures in nature ; it is computed at one hundred 
miles in circuit. This ample space is decked in perennial verdure, the emblem of immortality. 



190 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



watered by brooks and rivers ; and in every direction there appear vil- 
lages and gardens, which are adorned by beautiful buildings, trees, and 
plants ; while the circumjacent hills and mountains, for the space of 
forty miles, encompass the plain nearly in the form of a semi-circle. 
At the extremity of this plain stands the noble city of Granada; which, 
with its elevated suburbs resting on five hills, rises partly on delightful 
acclivities, and partly extends itself into the plain, covered with build- 
ings occupied by a numerous population as far as the place called Cor- 
Alnahl. Language, indeed, can with difficulty describe how happy, 
how charming it is rendered by the softness of the air, the mildness of 
the climate, the bridges over the river, the splendour of the temples, 
and the convenience of its market-places. The city is divided by the 
river Darro ; which flows from the east, and, forming a junction with 
the Singilis, waters the whole plain ; and which, like the Nile, after 
being augmented by numerous tributary rivulets and brooks, swells 
into a broad stream, and flows on to Seville (Hispalis)." 

In Granada, there was a garden attached to every house, and planted 
with orange, lemon, citron, laurel, myrtle, and other odoriferous trees 
and plants ; whose fragrance purified the air, and promoted the health 
of the inhabitants. All the houses were supplied with running water; 
and in every street, through the munificence of successive sovereigns, 
there were copious fountains, for the public convenience, and for the 
performance of religious ablutions : whatever, in short, could tend to 
promote the convenience and comfort of life, was here to be found in 
the richest profusion. The houses in the Albaycin (the highest quarter 
of the city) which in the time of the Moors were ten thousand in 

For though the adjacent promontory is incessantly crowned with snow, the inclemency of the sea- 
sons is unknown in the valley. Spring and autumn assume the place of winter, and the heat of 
summer is tempered by the vicinity of the mountains, and the crystal waters which nourish the 
trees and plants whose images they reflect. But the principal sources of fertilization are the nu- 
merous streams descending from the surrounding heights, which rapidly enter the vale, yet they 
slacken their speed as they advance and vary their course, and in playful windings slowly glide 
along the level lawn, as if unwilling to leave such delightful groves." (MS. note communicated 
by Mr. Murphy, author of the " Arabian Antiquities of Spain.") 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



191 



number, were particularly elegant ; being beautifully ornamented with 
damasquina work.* The surplus of the abundant crops of corn, pro- 
duced by the exuberant fertility of the soil, was deposited in numberless 
granaries, excavated in the sides of the mountains ; and the caves thus 
formed, in our days furnish a wretched abode to gypsies, who abound 
in this part of the peninsula. Granada had formerly twenty gates. A 
few of these only are now entire, but the ruins of most of the rest are 
still in existence. 

" Enjoying a still more delightful prospect, on the opposite side, 
there rises as it were another city, called Alhamra, -j- containing the 
royal residence. Here are seen, lofty towers, very strongly fortified 
citadels, superb palaces, and other splendid edifices, the view of which 
fills the spectator's mind with admiration. Here a vast mass of water, 
whose loud murmuring noise is heard at a distance, flows from various 
springs, and irrigates both the fields and meadows. The outer walls of 
the city of Granada are surrounded by most choice and spacious gar- 
dens, where the trees are so thickly set, as to resemble hedges ; yet not 
so as to obstruct the view of the beautiful towers of the Alhamra, which 
sparkle like stars, among the leaves. No spot, in short, is without its 
orchards, vineyards, and gardens : and so abundant is the produce of 
fruits and vegetables, reared on the widely-extended plain, that the 
wealth alone of the first princes can equal their annual value." The 
clear income from each garden was computed at five hundred golden 
crowns (aurei), out of which it paid thirty minse to the King. Further, 

* Pedraza, Antiguedad de Granada, pp. 20, 21. The Damasquina work abovementioned, was 
a peculiar kind of stucco ornament, originally invented at Damascus, whence its name is derived. 

f Or Medinat Alhamra, (usually but erroneously written Alhambra) that is, the Red City, for 
which appellation various reasons have been assigned. According to some Arabian authors, it was 
thus termed from the colour of the materials with which it was built : others think it a corruption 
of Alhamar, the Arabian tribe from which its founder, Mahomet Algaleb Billalr, was descended. 
Ibnu-1 Khatlb, however, derives its name from the circumstance of the workmen having wrought 
at it by night, by the light of candles. (Ibnu-1 Khatib, Bibliotheca Arabico-Hispana, apud Casiri, 
t. ii. p. 114, col. 2.) By the modern Spaniards, this superb edifice is designated la Sierra del 
Sol, or mountain of the sun ; because, by its elevation on a high mountain, it is exposed to the 
rising sun. 



192 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



around these gardens lay fields of various culture, clothed with perpetual 
verdure, and yielding some kind of produce or other at every season of 
the year. Thus a constant succession of crops was obtained, and an 
annual rent was produced, amounting to twenty-five thousand golden 
crowns, — equivalent, perhaps, to about £ 15,000. sterling, — an immense 
sum of money at that time, when wheat was sold at the rate of about 
sixpence per bushel. 

" Here, also, may the spectator behold the royal demesnes, which 
are rendered wonderfully pleasant by rows of trees, and by a variety 
of plants, — lofty towers rising with a charming aspect, — a spaciously- 
extended plain, and waters constantly flowing, for the use of the baths, 
and for turning mills ; the revenue thence derived is appropriated to 
supporting the fortifications of the city. The royal farms cover the 
space of about twenty miles, and are cultivated and adorned by nu- 
merous able-bodied husbandmen, and choice animals. In most of them 
are castles, mills, and mosques : and to these ornaments of the farms 
must be added, — what is of the utmost importance in rural economy, — 
the exuberant fertility of the soil. Many towns, distinguished for their 
population and their produce, lie scattered around the royal estates ; 
some of these are laid down to pasture, while others are appropriated 
to tillage. To these succeed villages, hamlets, and other very popu- 
lous places, amounting in all to upwards of three hundred. The 
number of colleges and places of worship, is fifty ; and without the city 
walls more than one hundred and thirty water-mills are computed to 
be at work." 

The chief ornament of Granada, during the empire of the Spanish 
Arabs, as well as in the present day, is unquestionably, the royal Al- 
cazar^ or fortress and palace of Alhamra, which was founded by 

* Ibnu-l Khatlb, apud Casiri, t. ii. p. 250, 251. 

f This is corrupted from the Arabic word Al Caygar, which signifies of Caesar, and has been re- 
tained by the Arabs since the days of Julius Caesar ; who conferred upon one of their tribes the 
exclusive privilege of rearing and trading in silk. Hence, they called the public building where 
it was sold, by the name of Cayzar, or the house of Caesar. Afterwards, when the victorious Mos- 
lems carried their arms into Spain, they introduced the culture of silk, together with their 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



193 



Muhammad Abu Abdillah Ben Nasr, surnamed Alghaleb Billah, the 
second sovereign of Granada ; who defrayed the expense of its erection 
by a tribute imposed on his conquered subjects. He superintended the 
building in person ; and, when it was completed, he made it the royal 
residence. The same fortunate monarch also fortified the mountain on 
which it is situated ; and, during the whole of his reign, appropriated 
an ample portion of his treasures towards improving and perfecting it.* 
The successors of Abu Abdillah took great delight in embellishing, 
or in making additions to the Alhamra, particularly his son Muham- 
mad II., and his grandson Muhammad III. ; the latter erected and richly 
endowed a mosque, of beautiful architecture, which was splendidly 
decorated with mosaics, its roof being supported by large pillars curi- 
ously wrought, the capitals and bases of which were of silver. The 
Arabian historian calls this edifice a rare and admirable work, every 
way worthy of that incomparable prince. f But the sovereign who put 
the finishing hand to this palace was Yusuf Ben Ismael Ben Pharagi, 
surnamed Abu-1 Hajjaj, an accomplished poet and scholar, as well as 
a lover of the fine arts, who reigned from the year of the Hijra 732 to 
755, A. D. 1331 to 1354. Hislast work in the Alhamra was the square 
tower, forming the present principal entrance into the fortress, and 
which the inscription over it states to have been erected A. H. 749, or 
A.D. 1348. 



General Observations on the Arrangement of the Alhamra. 

Like Windsor castle, the palace of the Alhamra is situated upon the 
northern brow of a steep hill, commanding an extensive prospect over 
a beautiful country, and towering with venerable aspect above the city 

appellation of the building where it was sold, though in progress of time, other articles besides 
silk were there exposed to sale. Pcdraza, Antiguedad de Granada, p. 20. 

* Casiri, t. ii. p. 260, col. 2. For views of the Alhamra, and its various superb apartments and 
decorations, see Mr. Murphy's " Arabian Antiquities of Spain," Plates X. and following ; in which 
they are faithfully delineated, and admirably engraved. -f" Casiri, p. 272, col. 2. 

c c 



194 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



of Granada. The sides towards the citadel are so delapidated or en- 
cumbered with modern buildings, that very few traces are visible of the 
ancient external walls. But the interior remains of the palace are in 
tolerable preservation, and present a striking picture of the romantic 
magnificence of its former kings. How strange does every object in 
this edifice appear ! how different from all that we are accustomed to 
behold ! Yet even in its present deserted state, we recognize in the 
architecture, the condition of the owner, the seat of power, and the 
gravity of the Arabian character. But the splendour of the turban'd 
monarch has vanished, and the throne of the son of Nasr is filled by 
bats and owls. 

Simple and natural is the general distribution. The courts, for in- 
stance, which in our mansions are usually dull and uninteresting, are 
here so planned, as to seem a continuation of the series of apartments ; 
and, the whole being upon the same level plane throughout, in its pri- 
mitive state the prospect must have been enchanting : halls and galle- 
ries, porticos and columns, arches, mosaics, and balsamic plants and 
flowers of various hues, were seen through the haze of spraying fountains. 
Although the Arabs were unacquainted with perspective, yet their 
architectural scenery is truly picturesque, and well calculated to make 
a small building appear larger than it really is. Instead of the costly 
works of classic art, they adorned the courts and haram with the simple 
productions of nature, and blessed the God of Mahomet for having given 
them original pictures instead of copies. In every part of the palace 
they had water in abundance, and a perfect controul over it ; making 
it high or low, visible or invisible, at pleasure — sometimes spouting in 
the air, dispersing the floating miasmata, and tempering the aridity of 
the atmosphere. At other times they spread out in the midst of a court 
a large oblong sheet, in which were seen buildings, fountains, figures, 
and a serene azure sky. The verge was bordered by white marble 
flags, having a long narrow bed of roses ranged on either side : a per- 
ennial stream stole in at one end of the sheet, and out at the other ; 
leaving the surface, on a plane with the floors, smooth and even as the 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



195 



glass floor of the ball of audience, in which Solomon received the queen 
of Sheba. 

In every apartment, two currents of air were constantly in motion, 
apertures being formed near the ceiling to discharge the warm and un- 
wholesome air, which the pure inferior current forced upwards. By 
means of tubes or caleducts of baked earth, placed in the walls, a sub- 
terraneous hypocaust diffused warmth not only through the whole range 
of the baths, but to all the contiguous upper apartments, where warmth 
was required. The doors are generally very large, and sparingly in- 
troduced. Except in the side of the edifice towards the precipice, where 
the prospect is very grand, the windows are so placed as to confine the 
view to the interior of the palace. The purport of an inscription in one 
of the apartments, is to this effect. " My windows admit the light and 
" exclude the view of external objects, lest the beauties of nature should 
" divert your attention from the beauties of my work." 

The arabesques, paintings, and mosaics, which are finished with 
great care and accuracy, give a consequence and interest even to the 
smallest apartment Instead of being papered or wainscoted, the 
walls are covered with arabesques, which had been cast in moulds in a 
peculiar manner, and afterwards joined together, although no separa- 
tion appears.* The receding ornaments are illuminated in just grada- 
tions with leaf gold, pink, light blue, and dusky purple : the first colour 
is the nearest, the last the most distant from the eye, but the general 
surface is white. A multitude of sculptures of unequal projection, 
creates confusion ; an error that is avoided in this place, where the or- 
naments are produced by incision, and their boundless number excites 
an artificial infinity. Externally, where projections are necessary, the 
line of continuity is uniformly observed in every distinct series of parts. 
The domes and arcades are also formed of ornamented casts, which are 
almost as light as wood, and as durable as marble : specimens of the 
composition of which they are formed, may be seen in the early works 
of the Arabs, unimpaired after a lapse of ten centuries. They appear 

* See delineations of these arabesques and mosaics, in the Arabian Antiquities of Spain, 
Plates XLIX. to LXV. and LXXVIII. 



196 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



to have been well acquainted with the properties of the carbonate of 
selenite. 

The lower part of the walls, to the height of about four feet, is co- 
vered with porcelain mosaics of various figures and colours : and it ap- 
pears from a few remaining fragments, that the floors and columns of 
some of the apartments were also covered with similar mosaics. The 
Arabs took great pleasure in these decorations, a luxury unknown to 
their Gothic contemporaries, who skirted their halls with mats, and 
covered the floors with bulrushes. 

Since the conquest of Granada by Ferdinand and Isabella, in the 
year 1492, the Alhamra has undergone various alterations. Induced 
by the beauty of its situation, and the purity of the air, the Emperor 
Charles V. caused a magnificent palace to be commenced on the ruins 
of the offices of the old Moorish palace, probably with the view of 
making it his constant residence. But, in consequence of the continual 
wars in which he was engaged, together with his frequent absences from 
Spain, a suite of apartments handsomely decorated in the Spanish style, 
is all that was constructed : and these, like the rest of the Alhamra, are 
falling rapidly to decay, through neglect. At present, the walls are 
defaced ; the paintings faded ; the wood-work is decayed, and festoons 
of cobwebs are seen hanging from the cielings. In the works of the 
Arabs, on the contrary, the walls remain unaltered, except by the in- 
juries inflicted by the hand of man. The colours of the paintings, in 
which there is no mixture of oil, on removing the particles of dust, ap- 
pear to have preserved their brightness. The beams and wood-work 
of the cielings present no signs of decay ; and spiders, flies, and all 
other insects, shun their apartments at every season. The art of ren- 
dering timber and paints durable, and of making porcelain, mosaics, 
arabesques, and other ornaments, — began and ended in western Europe 
with the Spanish Arabs. 

A most curious and interesting part of this edifice is the baths, which 
are almost entire, and may give a competent idea of their manner of 
constructing, lighting, and warming these luxurious apartments.* 
* See Arabian Antiquities of Spain, Plates XX. to XXVII. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



197 



Pedraza, the Granadine antiquary, observes, that " no monarch, 
st whether Christian or infidel, ever possessed a more magnificent 
<e apartment than that called the Hall of Ambassadors." He might with 
truth assert, that it is a noble hall, and " arched so high, that giants 
" may keep their turbans on." But the Sala de dos Hermanas, or Hall 
of the Two Sisters, though not so large, displays more ingenuity of con- 
struction ; the domes in particular are the most curious productions of 
architecture, without exception, that have ever been seen, and they are 
in excellent preservation. Notwithstanding the apparent slightness of 
the construction of this edifice, the resistance is so well adjusted to the 
impulse, that there is not an instance of any part being pushed out of 
its place, or of having sunk under the incumbent weight. 

" The character of the whole," says a recent judicious observer, " is 
" so remote from all the objects to which we are accustomed, that the 
<e impression of wonder and delight which it has excited, will afford 
" me the most pleasing recollection during the remainder of my life." 
The pleasure, doubtless, would be greatly enhanced, by reading and 
understanding, with the enraptured fancy of an Arab, the poetry dis- 
played in the friezes, architraves and bands, in Cufic and Asiatic cha- 
racters, richly illuminated.* 

A consideration of the various remains, and of the recorded magnifi- 
cence of the Arabian sovereigns, may enable us to judge what this 
palace had been in the zenith of regal power, with the courts and halls, 
baths and fountains, groves and gardens, in perfection. Its possessors 
were sumptuously robed in fine linens, silks, and embroidery, glittering 
with gold and gems ; they had costly furniture of citron, sandal, and 
aloes wood, ornamented with ivory and mother of pearl, intermixed 
with burnished gold and cerulean blue,-— vases of curious and costly 
workmanship, of porcelain, rock crystal, mosaic, and sardonyx, — rich 
hangings, flowery carpets, couches and pillows ; and the whole was 
perfumed with the precious frankincense of Yamen. 

* The various engravings in the " Arabian Antiquities of Spain," (See Plates LXXX. to 
LXXXV1I.) will convey some idea of the beauty of the Cufic characters, engraved on the walls 
of the Alhamra. The poems, from which many of the inscriptions are extracted, are given at 
length, with an English translation, in the Appendix to this volume. 



198 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



But such is the instability of human grandeur, that of all this Asiatic- 
pomp, and of the former splendour of Granada, nothing now remains but 
ruined edifices, uncultivated fields, and the skeleton of a city where 
nothing prospers but monasteries, and monks, and lawyers, who sur- 
vive the misery they have caused. 

The Alhamra is, at present, totally deserted, except on the days of 
admission to strangers. The want of repairs, the frequent lacerations, 
and the injuries occasioned by rain and the stagnant waters, are hasten- 
ing its dissolution. Thus dismantled, solitary, and neglected, like a 
friendless stranger in a foreign land, without the immediate interposi- 
tion of government, a few years more may level with the ground, the 
beautiful domes and arcades of the only remaining palace of the western 
Khalifs. 

Of the other architectural remains of the Alhambra, the two princi- 
pal gates of entrance are the most remarkable. The large cistern, 
contiguous to the palace, is a solid and durable structure, and the 
ingenious manner of filtering and keeping the water which is conveyed 
to it in the winter, pure, and at the same temperature throughout the 
year, may deserve to be imitated, especially in tropical climates. Several 
matamoras, or subterraneous granaries, still subsist in the eastern and 
highest part of the fortress. For the use of its inhabitants such a number 
of stores would not have been necessary; they seem sufficiently capacious 
to contain corn for the city of Granada at its most p'opulous sera. An 
edifice, called Caza de Carbon (or house of charcoal), which appears to 
have been a market for the sale of charcoal, as the name imports, is 
still to be seen at Granada. In the neighbourhood of this are two 
ancient structures, the GeneralifFe, and the Caza de San Domingo, both 
villas of the Arabs, and excellent specimens of their manner of building 
and laying out ground on a mountain side, and on a plain. The latter 
principally consists of an elegant portico of duplicated columns, and a 
lofty hall of singular workmanship : there also remain some vestiges of 
its ancient plantations, fountains, walks, and arbours : but the whole is 
utterly neglected by the present possessors, the Dominican monks, 
whose name it bears. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN 



199 



The royal villa of Al Generalise* is delightfully situated on the side 
of a steep mountain, opposite to the Alhamra, and forming with it the 
circular inclosure within which the city of Granada is built. In point 
of situation, it is fully equal to the Alhamra, but is greatly superior 
to it in the beauty of the streams that water the grounds, and also of 
vegetation, which jointly concur to make it a charming residence. The 
principal building stands on the acclivity of the mountain, behind 
which rises the garden, planted with large trees, and fertilised by 
numerous rivulets. The ancient cypress trees still exist, whose foliage 
overshadowed this spot, when it was the abode of pleasure and of luxury. 
These trees are still called the Queen's cypresses, from a traditional 
account that the Sultana of Abu Abdillah, the last sovereign of Granada, 
had been seen, behind them, in wanton dalliance with an individual 
belonging to the noble family of the Abencerrages.f 

The gardens are disposed in the form of an amphitheatre, and are 
irrigated by streams issuing from the summit of the mountain ; which, 
after forming numerous cascades, lose thsmselves among the trees and 
flowering shrubs. Above the Generalise itself, and near the top of the 
eminence, there is a kind of stone bank, cut out of the rock, which is 
said to have served the Moorish kings as a point of observation, while 
the Spaniards were besieging Granada. The interior decorations of 

* See delineation of it, in the " Arabian Antiquities of Spain," Plates XC. to XCVI. 

■J* This charge, as well as that of conspiring against Abu Abdillah, is said to have been falsely 
brought by one of the Zegris, a noble family, hostile to the Abencerrages, with the view of effecting 
their ruin, of the latter of whom thirty-six were massacred by the jealous monarch. The Sultana was 
condemned to be burnt alive, if within thirty days she did not produce four knights to defend her 
cause against her four accusers. The fatal day arrived ; no knights appeared — when, just at the 
critical moment, arrived Don Juan de Chacon, Lord of Cartbagena (whom she had implored to 
be her champion), accompanied by three other Christian knights, all in the dress of Turks. They 
fought, they conquered ; and the last of the conspirators, with his dying breath, confessed his 
invention of the false charge against the Abencerrage, and the Sultana, who was of course liberated 
with honour. Mr. Swinburne has given a long and interesting detail, whence the preceding 
notice is abridged, relative to this supposed transaction : but, as the statements of his Spanish 
authors (Giles Peres and Medina Conde), are not to be received with implicit credence, the reader 
who is desirous of perusing the whole narrative, is referred to his " Travels, in Spain," vol. i. 



200 THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 

this villa, in point of splendour and elegance, are not inferior to those 
of the Alhamra. 



Such was Granada in all its prosperity — the seat of regal power, the 
abode of the arts, sciences, and literature : the city was captured by 
Ferdinand and Isabella, A. D. 1492, as already stated ;* and to this 
day it is the subject of fond recollection to the Moors, who every Friday 
offer up their supplications to Allah, for the recovery of Granada, which 
they, not without the reason, esteem a terrestrial paradise. 

The population of the kingdom of Granada, under the dominion of 
the Moors, is said to have amounted to three millions of inhabitants ; 
at present it is reduced to six hundred and sixty-one thousand, six 
hundred and sixty-one. The population of the city has diminished in 
equal proportion : in 1492, it contained two hundred and fifty thousand 
persons, who, from the oppressions and expulsion of the Moors, were, 
in 1614, reduced to eighty thousand ; and, according to a recent census, 
are at present estimated at only fifty thousand. f 

Granada, however, is not only remarkable on account of its nume- 
rous remains of Arabian architecture ; it has, also, a high claim to 
distinction as the seat of literature and of the elegant arts. The public 
library founded in this city, and augmented by the liberality of succes- 
sive kings, was particularly celebrated ; and many of the manuscripts 
which it contained, are at present to be found in the library of the 
Escurial. Casiri has given a catalogue (executed A. H. 611. A. D. 1214) 
of those which were accounted the most rare, in the time of the Moors.J 

pp. 242 — 252 (8vo. edit.) Mr. Peyron, in his " Essays on Spain," has given a translation of an 
Arabian document, purporting to be an official report concerning the above transaction. See 
Bourgoing's " Modern State of Spain," vol. iv. pp. 167 — 169. 
* See pp. 155 — 157. supra. 

-J- Manuel Geographique et Stat'tstique de l'Espagne, p. 160. 

% Bibliotheca Arabico-Hispana, t. i. p. 465. Of this celebrated library, Mahomet Ben Ahmad 
Ben Pharag Ben Schocral Aba Abdallah was curator, in the beginning of the 8th century of the 
Hijra (the 14th century of the Christian Mra). He was a native of Tarsus, in Cilicia, but had 
studied at Almeria, in the kingdom of Granada, and was equally eminent in philosophy, medicine, 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



201 



Nor was the university or college less distinguished : it is supposed to 
have been founded towards the close of the eleventh century (the sixth 
of the Hijra) ; about which time the most eminent doctors and authors 
flourished at Granada.* Casiri has recorded the names and works of 
one hundred and twenty literati — theologians — teachers of law — histo- 
rians — philosophers — and other professors, whose literary talents con- 
ferred dignity and fame on the university of Granada. 

and jurisprudence. He was first a bookseller in Granada, afterwards an embroider, and then a 
druggist. Being charged with stealing a diplomatic MS. belonging to the King, he was exiled to 
Hippo (usually called Bona) in Africa, where he died, A. H. 732. A.D. 1831. See Ibnu-1 
Khatib's Granatensis Encyclica, apud Casiri, t. ii. p. 80. 

* Middeldorpf, de Institutis Literariis Arab- in Hispania, p. 24. 



D d 



202 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



SECTION III. 

A SHORT HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF SEVILLE. 



Revolutions in the History of Seville — Captured by Ferdinand III. King of Cas- 
tille— Population —Remains of Arabian Art there — The Alcazar — Oiraldo — 
Fragment of Mosque — University. 

Pursuing the course of the Guadalquivir, we arrive at Seville, the 
capital of Spain, until Philip II. established his court at Madrid, as a 
more central position. This city, the Hispalis of ancient Spain, is 
admirably situated for commerce, and, under the empire of the Arabs, 
held a distinguished place in the year of the Hijra, 418 (A. D. 1027), 
it became the seat of a petty kingdom, whose monarchs held the sceptre 
for about fifty years, when numerous different governors usurped the 
sovereignty for nearly forty years. In the year of the Hijra, 634, 
Seville became a republic, and enjoyed a free government until, after a 
desperate resistance, it was taken by Ferdinand, King of Castille, A. H. 
646 — A. D. 1248. At this time, Seville was one of the most conside- 
rable cities in Spain : while the beauty of its climate, and the fertility 
of the surrounding fields, rendered it a desirable residence. Its favour- 
able situation, near the mouth of the river Guadalquivir, presented an 
opportunity for commerce to its enterprising inhabitants, which was 
not neglected. 

The population of this city, in the year 1247, was computed at up- 
wards of three hundred thousand persons ; which, in the 16th century 
had decreased one third, and which at present is reduced to ninety-six 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



203 



thousand souls.* Its productive industry has suffered a proportionate 
diminution : in the vicinity of Seville are the celebrated olive grounds, 
called the Axarafe, which in the time of the Moors were so industriously 
cultivated, that the number of farm houses and olive-presses, amounted 
to one hundred thousand, a larger number than is now to be found in 
the whole province of Andalusia. Rarely, indeed, do the present 
annual crops exceed, each, thirty-two thousand arrobas, or one hundred 
and ten thousand gallons of oil. 

Among the scanty remains of Arabian monuments at Seville, the 
most considerable are the Alcazar, or royal palace, the Giraldo, and 
a fragment of the great mosque. The first, an imperfect imitation of 
the architecture of the Alhamra, was erected after the expulsion of the 
Moors from the city. The mosque, as appears by the portion of the 
exterior walls still remaining, was similar in design and execution, and 
not much inferior in size, to the Mezquita of Cordova. It was founded 
by that distinguished sovereign, Yusiif Abu Yacub ;f and, on the sur- 
render of Seville to the arms of Ferdinand, King of Castille, it was 
converted into a cathedral, after having undergone the usual purifica- 
tions and ceremonials : and it might have still continued in that service, 
if the humility of the structure had not been incompatible with the 
opulence and dignity of the see. After a long forbearance, the clergy 
at length resolved to build a new cathedral, in a style suitable to their 
growing prosperity ; in pursuance, therefore, of an auto capitular of the 
8th July, 1401, the foundation of the present Gothic pile was laid, — 
the largest sacred edifice in the peninsula, and almost completed, with 
the interior decorations, in the space of one hundred and seventy years. 
On comparing this edifice with the mosque at Cordova, it may be infer- 
red, that neither space nor convenience has been obtained by this 
change, and the venerable ashes of St. Ferdinand might have rested as 
peaceably in the Mahometan fane, as in the solemn temple erected on 
its ruins. 

* Manuel Geographique et Statistique de l'Espagne, p. ISO. 
■f" Ibnu-l-Khatlb, apud Casiri, t. ii. p. 220. 



204 



THE HISTORY, &c. 



But the destroyers of the mosque fortunately spared its most striking 
feature, the lofty tower, corruptly called the Girada, erected A. D. 
1196. It was originally consecrated to science, and was used as an 
astronomical observatory, but is now converted to the service of the 
church, and degraded to a belfry. Simple and ingenious is the con- 
struction of the Giraldo, the loftiest and most ancient monument, 
perhaps, in Christendom, in honour of astronomy. It was built under 
the superintendance of the celebrated Arabian astronomer and mathe- 
matician, Geber, who is by some writers reputed, though erroneously, 
to have been the inventor of Algebra. 

Seville, like all the other great cities of the Spanish Arabs, was the seat 
of an university, founded probably towards the close of the fourth, or 
at the commencement of the fifth century of the Hijra, corresponding 
with the early part of the 12th century of the Christian ^Era : and, 
upwards of seventy illustrious scholars are enumerated by Casiri, as 
professors or residents of this abode of science and the arts.f 



•f- Middeldorpf, de Instit. Literariis Arab, in Hispan. pp. 34—38. 



THE HISTORY 

OF THE 

MAHOMETAN EMPIRE IN SPAIN, be. 

PART II. 



THE HISTORY 

OF THE 

MAHOMETAN EMPIRE IN SPAIN, $c. 

PART II. 



CHAPTER I. 

ON THE LITERATURE AND SCIENCES OF THE ARABS. 



SECTION I 

ON THE LITERATURE OF THE ARABS. 

State of Literature in Ancient Arabia — Destruction of the Alexandrian Library 
— The Khalifs, Protectors of Letters — Al Mansur, Harun-ar-Rashid, Al- 
Mamun — The Arabs in Spain — Their Libraries, Colleges, Academies, and 
Schools — Constitution and Studies of the Spanish- Arabian Colleges and Acade- 
mies — Love and reverence for Learning — Language of the Arabians — Their 
Characters or Writing — Studies chiefly cultivated by them — Grammar — Elo- 
quence — Examination of the Eloquence of the Koran- — State of popular Eloquence 
among the Arabs — Eloquence of the Pulpit — Writers on Rhetoric — Poetry, a 
favourite Object of Study— Eminent Arabian Poets in Spain — Dramatic Poetry 
— Genius of Arabian Poetry examined — The Arabian Tales — History — Geo- 
graphy — Philosophy — The Writings of Aristotle why studied in preference to 
all others. 

At the period, when ignorance and barbarism prevailed through 
every part of the Roman empire, literature and philosophy found an 
asylum among the Arabians: and, by a singular revolution in the 



208 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



history of nations, Europe became indebted to the mortal enemies of 
her religion and arms, for the first lessons of science and learning. 

Originally, the peninsula of Arabia was one of the most barbarous 
countries of Asia. Its inhabitants, a rude nomadic race subsisting on 
rapine and plunder, from the nature of their pursuits, had necessarily 
but little leisure for the culture of polite literature or the pleasing arts : 
nor, until a short time before the age of Mahomet, were alphabetical 
characters known to the Arabs.* The whole of their literature con- 
sisted in a coarse and imperfect kind of poetry ; and their knowledge 
was confined to genealogical notices and detached maxims of morality. 
The Arabs appear, from the earliest accounts, to have possessed great 
natural abilities, in which acuteness of penetration seems allied with 
extent of comprehension. f Not to repeat some well-known instances 
of their sagacity, it may be sufficient to adduce the poetical and rational 
answer of an inhabitant of the desert to the inquiry how he knew there 
was a God. " Exactly," he replied, ce in the same way that I know, 
" by the traces left in the sands, that a man or an animal has passed 
" before me. The heavens with the splendour of their stars — the earth 
<e with its extended countries — and the sea with its countless waves — 
" what are they but obligations to believe and to confess the hand of 
" their Almighty Master ?" 

In reply to the question, what means he employed to give his me- 
mory its extraordinary power of retention, another Arab answered: 
cc I resemble my native sands, which imbibe all the water that falls 
" upon them, and do not suffer a single drop to escape." 

But, whatever mental powers the Arabians possessed, they were, for 
a long time, destitute of a proper direction. The first age of Islamism 
was unpropitious to the interests of literature : the " Illiterate Prophet/' 
for so the Arabians themselves call the founder of their religion, by 
promulgating his Koran as a divine communication, effectually barred 
all access to the study of the sciences. The first Mnsalmans, with a 
very few exceptions, were acquainted with no other book than the 

* Pococke, Specimen Hist. Arab. p. 161. 

t Introduction to the Literary History of the 11th and 15th Centuries, p. 71- 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



209 



Koran : the extension of their religion by force of arms being considered 
as a sacred and meritorious duty, their attention was principally con- 
fined to military science.* Conceiving the Koran to contain every 
thing that was necessary or useful to be known, they immediately 
condemned as erroneous whatever was contrary to its dogmas : and, 
whatever was not to be found in this sacred volume, was dismissed as 
superfluous. Hence the other sciences were regarded with indifference 
or contempt ; and the conflagration of the celebrated Alexandrian Li- 
brary, is a permanent memorial of the barbarous fanaticism of the 
Khalif Omar.-f 

The aversion, however, of the Moslems from literary pursuits, gra- 
dually relaxed, in proportion as their religion was disseminated, and 
their empire was extended, by conquest : and the Khalifs became the 
protectors of literature. Several of those, who contributed to the culti- 
vation of letters by their munificence and example, have already been 

* Andres, Dell' Origine, Progressi, e State attuale d' ogni Letteratura, torn. ii. p. 2. (Ve- 
nice, 1783). 

-f- The reader, who is desirous of perusing the history of this celebrated library, is referred to 
the first volume of e: An Introduction to the Study of Bibliography," pp. vi — xi. It may suffice 
here to remark, that the Alexandrian Library had been founded by Ptolemy Philadelphus, and 
augmented by his successors : and that, after sustaining various revolutions through a period of 
nine hundred and thirty-two years, during which it was sometimes plundered and sometimes 
re-established, it was finally destroyed by the Saracens, under the orders of the Khalif Omar, when 
they acquired possession of Alexandria, A.D. 642. A very interesting narrative of this calami- 
tous event, so fatal to the interests of literature, is given by Abu'lfaragius (Hist. Dynast, p. H4, 
vers. Pocock.), whose positive account Mr. Gibbon has endeavoured to disprove by negative argu- 
ments, Decline and Fall, vol. ix. p. 440. It should, however, be considered, that the positive 
evidence of an historian, of such unquestionable credit as Ab'ulfaragius is, cannot be set aside by 
an argument merely negative. His references to Aulus Gellius, Noct. Att. 1. vi. c. 17, Ammianus 
Marcellinus, 1. xxii. c. 15, and Orosius, 1. vi. c. 15, are foreign from the purpose for which they 
are cited : for these writers only notice the accidental conflagration of the Alexandrian Library, in 
the time of Julius Caesar; after which it was renovated, and continued to flourish until its utter 
destruction by the Saracens ; Enfield's Hist, of Philosophy, vol. ii. 227, note. It may further be 
remarked, that the illustrious Arabic scholar, M. Sacy, has collected various testimonies from the 
works of Arabian writers preserved in the royal library at Paris, which concur in establishing the 
credibility of Abu'lfaragius's narrative. See Abd-AUatif, Relation de l'Egypte, par Sacy, pp. 240 
—244. 



210 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



incidentally noticed :* in addition to them, it may be observed, that 
AH, the fourth in succession from Mahomet, was the first who encou- 
raged literature ; and the eight hundred and seventy-seven sentences 
of this Khalif afford a just and favourable specimen of that strong and 
sententious wit, for which the Arabians are distinguished. f Muavia, 
the first Khalif of the Ommiad family, also evinced some taste for poetry 
and literature : but the dynasty of Al- Abbas, which succeeded it in the 
sovereign power, gave still greater encouragement to letters and the 
sciences ; and, by one of those singular but unaccountable revolutions, 
which mark the history of the Arabians, no sooner had their minds 
received a proper impulse, than they over-ran the departments of 
science with the same facility with which they had overspread the 
provinces of the east. 

The golden age of Arabian Literature commenced in the East, in the 
Khilafat of Abu Jaafar, surnamed Al Mansur, who reigned A. H. 
137 — 159, A. I>. 754 — 775. Amidst several insurrections, many splen- 
did conquests, much cruelty, and much avarice, he found time, taste, 
and money for a liberal encouragement of the arts ; and founded at 
Baghdad^ a metropolis unequalled for magnificence and population, 
which continued to be the royal seat of his descendants for more than 
five centuries. Theology, philosophy, literature, and astronomy, were 
successfully cultivated : the Khalif 's own reading lay principally in the 
Koran and the skies. To him, the Arabians were indebted for the 
introduction of medicine ; the knowledge of which was communicated 
to them by George Baktishua, a Christian physician, whose labours 
were rewarded with princely liberality ; and who, at the Khalif 's 

* See Part I. chap. i. pp. 45, 47, 49, supra. 

t One hundred and sixty nine sentences of All were translated into English, and published by 
Mr. Ockley in 1718. But the completest edition is that of Cornelius Van Waenen, in Arabic 
and Latin, 4to, Oxford, 1806, printed at the Clarendon Press, in a manner not more honourable 
to the delegates, than gratifying to the industrious and learned editor, who did not live to see his 
work published. See an account of it and of him in Schnurrer's Bibliotheca Arabica, pp. 240 
—242. 

X El-macin Hist. Sar. p. 102. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



211 



request, translated numerous works from the Greek, Syriac, and Per- 
sian languages, into that of Arabia.* 

His grandson, the Khalif Harun Arrashid, A. D. 786 — 809, who 
was dreaded by the Greeks for his skill, courage, and cruelty in war, is 
better known, and more deservedly celebrated in Europe for the pro- 
motion of the pacific arts, for his love of science, and for his encou- 
ragement of learning. The historian, El-Macin, assures us,f that he 
never travelled without a retinue of one hundred learned men. To his 
munificence the Arabians were indebted for the rapid progress which 
they made in literature and the sciences : for Harun issued a law, that 
no mosque should ever be erected, without attaching a school to it. In 
this wise measure he was imitated by his successors ; and in a short 
time the sciences, that were cultivated in the capital, were diffused over 
the whole dominions of the Khilafat. In the early part of his reign, 
Harun was not disposed to encourage the learned Christians : but, their 
superior skill in medicine having introduced them to his notice and 
favour, he rose superior to the bigotry which had distinguished the 
conduct of the early commanded of the faithful ; and conferred the 
general superintendance of the schools, and studies prosecuted in his 
empire, on John Ibn Mesue, a Nestorian Christian of Damascus, who 
was deeply skilled in Greek literature. £ 

But his honours, and the glory of his race, were eclipsed by his se- 
cond son, the Khalif Al-Maniun ; who, during a prosperous reign of 
twenty years (A. D. 813-833), was the Augustus of his age and country. 
Previously to his ascending the throne, he selected for his companions 
the most eminent scholars among the Greeks, Persians, and Chaldeans; 
and, after his accession to the sovereign power, his court became the 
resort of poets, philosophers, and mathematicians. He collected around 
him the literati of every country; and Baghdad became the centre of 
the sciences. The first dignities in the state were held by men, dis- 
tinguished for their literary acquirements ; who were also dispatched 

* Freind's Hist, of Medicine, vol. ii'. pp. 8, 9, 10. Andres, torn. ii. p. 4. 
f Hist. Sar. 1. ii. c. 6. p. 120. 
I Andres, torn. ii. p. 5. 



212 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



into the various provinces of the empire, — into Syria, Armenia, and 
Egypt ; and were commissioned to collect ancient manuscripts, and at 
the same time to scatter the rays of intellectual light. During the 
reign of Al-Mamun, hundreds of camels entered Baghdad, laden wholly 
with manuscripts, and books in various languages; and those, which 
were deemed proper to augment the public instruction, were translated 
into Arabic, copied and dispersed among all classes of people.* Rightly 
judging, that the best treasures of Constantinople were deposited in its 
libraries, it is recorded to his honour, that, in concluding a treaty of 
peace with the Greek Emperor Michael III., he stipulated as one of 
the conditions, that a numerous collection of rare and valuable books 
should be given up to him.| 

Under the fostering reign of this Khalif, medicine, jurisprudence, and 
the mathematics, took a new flight: astronomy, and the abstruser ma- 
thematics, however, were the favourite studies of Al-Mamun ; whose 
introduction of scientific pursuits alarmed the more rigid Moslems. 
And Takyuddln (or Takeddm, as he is sometimes called), a celebrated 
doctor of that time, is recorded to have declared that God would as- 
suredly punish Al-Mamun, for presumptuously interrupting the devo- 
tions of the faithful, by encouraging and diffusing philosophy among 
them.J But, with all the commendations which are due to the memory 
of this Khalif, it must be mentioned with regret, that through an ill- 
judged partiality for his native tongue, he gave orders that after the 
Arabic versions were finished, the original Greek manuscripts should 
be burned. || The disgrace, however, consequent on this measure, is 
in some degree cancelled by the diligence with which Al-Mamun cul- 
tivated literature, and encouraged its progress and establishment in all 
the provinces of his extensive empire. Alexandria could boast her 
twenty schools : in later times, Cairo possessed numerous colleges ; and 
the majesty of these edifices indicated the importance which was at- 
tached to the cultivation of letters. Fez and Marocco possessed similar 

* Renaudot de Versionibus Arabicis et Syriac'is, in Fabricii Bibliotheca Graeca, vol. i. p. 8G2. 
■f Andres, torn. ii. pp. 5-8. J Brucker, Hist. Crit. Philos. torn. iii. p. 39. 

H Leo Af'ricanus de Viris illustribus Arabum, c. 1. apud Brucker, torn. iii. p. 38. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



213 



establishments for public instruction, where the study of literature was 
prosecuted with equal ardour.* 

The Arabs had extended their conquests into Italy and Spain, and 
with their arms they carried their literature and sciences. In what 
manner the latter country fell under their dominion, our former pages 
have already recorded ;f we have now to relate the more grateful and 
rapid progress of the sciences in Spain, where they flourished under the 
fostering care of the Arabian monarchs, while the grossest barbarism 
and superstition overspread the rest of Europe. 

At the commencement of their empire the victors, from political mo- 
tives, universally spared the conquered Christians, to cultivate the soil, 
and carry on commerce ; while they reserved their forces for garrisons, 
or to overawe their recently acquired subjects : % afterwards, they con- 
tracted marriages with the Christians, and introduced into the country 
great numbers of Africans, besides fifty thousand Jews, and many 
Syrians of noble descent. § At length the Spaniards, being totally sub- 
dued after a long and desperate resistance, concluded treaties with their 
conquerors ; and becoming gradually accustomed to the manners, lan- 
guage, and habits of the Arabs, they became JWozarahs, or mixed 
Arabs. ^[ Grievous were their lamentations for the churches that were 
either destroyed, or converted into places of worship by the Moslems, 
and also on account of the sacred books which are said to have been 
burnt in the first ebullition of their zeal for Islamism.j| As soon, how- 

* Andres, torn. ii. p. 9, 10. t See Part I. Chap. II. pp 56-65, supra. 

% Schotti Hispania Illustrata, torn. iv. p. 220. 

§ Casiri, Bibliotheca Arabico-Hispana Escurialensis, torn. ii. p. 252. 

% Schott. Hisp. Illustr. torn. p. 698, t. iii. p. 41, t. iv. p. 22. Casiri, t. ii. p. IS. In after 
times, however, the Mozarabs both understood and spoke the language of the Arabs. 

|| At the capture of Toledo, fifteen churches were totally destroyed by the Arabs ; six they left 
to the Christians, and the remainder they appropriated to their own use. Petri Juliani Chronicon 
MS. apud Middeldorpf. De Institutis Literariis Arabum in Hispania, p. 7. The missal used 
by the Christians of Toledo is known by the appellation of the Mozarabic Missal, and is one of the 
rarest productions of the press. It is supposed to be the ancient Missal, amended and purged by 
St. Isidore, Archbishop of Seville : and, by the Council of Toledo was ordered to be used in all 
churches, every one of which before that time had a missal peculiar to itself. For an interesting 



214 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



ever, as time and policy had cemented their conquests, the Arab mo- 
narchs of Spain applied themselves to the cultivation and diffusion of 
letters and the sciences : and while the Khalifs of Baghdad were in- 
structing the east, the Khalifs of Cordova enlightened the west. The 
golden age of Arabian literature in Spain commenced in the reigns of 
the Abdurrahmans, the first of whom founded the kingdom of Cordova: 
and the study of the sciences, with the good taste consequent on such 
pursuits, continued to flourish to a later period in Spain than in the 
east. 

The Arab monarchs of Spain not only formed splendid libraries for 
their own use, but also founded and endowed them in all the principal 
cities of their respective kingdoms. Among the royal libraries, that of 
Alhakam,* one of the most liberal encoura^ers of literature in Spain, is 
peculiarly distinguished : it comprised four hundred thousand volumes, 
kept not for the purpose of ostentation ; and every volume of which had 
been carefully examined by the Khalif, who with his own hand wrote 
in each the genealogies, births, and deaths of their respective authors, f 
Almutawakkil-al-Allah, who reigned at Granada in the twelfth century, 
possessed a magnificent library; and very many of the MSS which 
originally formed a part of it, are now preserved in the library of the 
Escurial. In the different cities of Spain, seventy libraries were open 
to the public ; but Cordova, Granada, Seville, and Toledo, were pre- 
eminent among the cities of the peninsula, for the magnificence of their 
libraries, colleges, academies, and schools. The academy or college of 
Granada was under the presidency of the very learned Shamsuddin, who 
for many years was professor of polite literature there. J 

M. Middeldorpf has enumerated not fewer than seventeen distin- 
guished colleges, academies, and schools, that flourished under the 
dominion of the Arabs in Spain, and of which some accounts are still to 
be obtained ; § and has given lists of the eminent professors who taught 

accou-.t of this very scarce and curious work, the reader may consult Mr. Dibdin's Bibliomania, 
pp. 212- r >14, and his Bibliotheca Spenceriana, vol. i. pp. 133-144. 

* Se< p. 10<), supra. f Casiri, torn. ii. pp. 38, 201, 202. % Ibid. t. i. p. 37. 

§ Of the three principal Moorish universities of Cordova, Granada, and Seville, a short notice 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



215 



in them, as well as of the theologians, poets, rhetoricians, and other 
illustrious writers who lived there. These interesting particulars, the 
limits necessarily assigned to the present sketch compel the author re- 
luctantly to omit ; but the constitution and discipline of the Spanish- 
Arabian academies and schools, are topics of too great interest to be 
altogether passed in silence. From the scattered notices which still 
remain, concerning their internal government and course of study, the 
following hints have been derived. 

Every institution for the education of youth, strictly, was connected 
with religion : hence, public establishments for this purpose were 
always found in conjunction with the mosques. Of these foundations, 
there were two classes, — one was composed of inferior schools, where 
children, of the lower order principally, were instructed in the elements 
of reading, writing, and religion : many of these students were sup- 
ported at the public expense. The usual course of instruction was thus. 
First, the youth were taught the Arabic alphabet, then the difference 
between each letter according to the pointing, next the composition or 
formation of the letters, vowels, &c. At length, they were instructed 
in pronunciation, and finally in the Koran, for the correct pronunciation 
of which, particular rules were prescribed.* It seems, indeed, that in 
ancient times, as well as at present, the studies of the inhabitants of the 
east were almost exclusively confined to grammar and the Koran ; and 
this conjecture is confirmed both by the private histories of learned men, 
as well as by the general history of their literature.f 

The second description of colleges which is known by the appellation 
of Madras, although connected with the mosques like the preceding 
class of schools, yet sometimes were independent establishments. Here 

has been given above, pp. 185, 201, 204. For the rest, the reader is referred to M. Middeldorpfs 
valuable and interesting disquisition, intituled : Commentatio de Institutis Literariis in Hispania, 
quae Arabes auctores habuerunt, in certamine literario civium Academics Georgias Augustce, 
die xv. Novembr. CID ID CCCX. pr/emio ornata. Goettingas, 4to. (1810). A good history of 
Arabian literature is still a desideratum in our language. 

* Dombay Grammatica Linguae Mauro-Arabicae. (Vienna, 1800, 4 to.) pp. 40-45. D'Ohsson 
Tableau G^n^ral de l'Empire Othoman. Tom. ii. p. 460. 

f Abd-Allatif, Relation de l'Egypte, par Sacy, pp. 458, 459. 



216 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



were taught grammar, syntax, the Koran, jurisprudence, and other 
sciences.* These academies, indeed, at their first institution, were de- 
signed for the exclusive study of jurisprudence and theology, and those 
pupils only were admitted to the benefit of them, who devoted them- 
selves to letters for life. Students of this description were considered as 
enrolled among the priests ; they were therefore employed, as public 
scribes, in drawing up wills for the dying, and to them was committed 
the task of instructing youth. Afterwards, however, as the Arabians 
proceeded to cultivate literature, private studies in the first instance, and 
then the course pursued in these academies, took a wider range ; so 
that much more was taught than could be comprehended or remem- 
bered, t And many of these colleges were so constructed, as frequently 
to contain thirty apartments, each of which was occupied by three or 
four students. 

The government of every academy and school was confided to a rector, 
who was chosen from the most eminent literati. Such was the celebrated 
Shamsuddm, already noticed : and a similar office was held, in the uni- 
versity of Granada, by Sarajuddm Abu Jaafar Omar Alhakemita Al- 
phakani.J When the narrow principles of Islamism are considered, 
the liberality of the Arabians towards the professors of literature justly 
demands our admiration : we have already seen § that the eastern Khalifs 

* The studies of the Turks in the modern madrasses or public colleges, are conducted with muck 
order and method, and nearly on the plan above described. They are divided into ten classes, 
under the common denomination of tlm y which signifies knowledge or science, viz. 1. Ilm Sarf 3 
or grammar; 2. Ilm-Nahhw, or syntax; 3. Ilm-Manntik, or logic; 4. Ilm- Adab, or <thics; 
5. Ilm- Meant/ ; or the science of allegories, which is substituted for rhetoric ; 6. Ilm-Kilam, or 
Ilm-Illahy, that is theology ; 7- Ilm-Hikmat, or philosophy ; 8. Ilm- Fikih, or jurisprudence; 
9. Hm-Tefsir, or the Koran, and the commentators thereon ; and 10. Ilm-Hadiss, or the oral 
laws of the prophet. Most of the works, in which these sciences are studied, are composed and 
written in the Arabic language, the knowledge of which is indispensably necessary, and L which can 
be acquired only by a constant application for many years. The private studies of the children of 
the Ulema, or theological lawyers, are conducted on the same plan as in the colleges ; those of 
the nobility, and of such as apply themselves to politics, are confined to oriental history and phi- 
losophy. D'Ohsson, Tableau, torn. ii. pp. 467-477- t Abd-AUatif, par Sacy, p. 462. 

% He flourished in the seventh century of the Hijra. Casiri, torn. i. p. 230, col. 2, 

§ See pp. 210-212, supra. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



217 



employed Christians in the superintendence of their schools ; and, in 
Spain, we find that even Jews were appointed to superintend the aca- 
demy or college at Cordova. Real learning was, in their estimation, 
of greater value than the religious opinions of the literati.* 

That academical examinations took place among the students there 
is every reason to believe. With respect to the medical students, the 
fact is certain ; and it is probable that they followed the practice of the 
schools at Cairo, where it was the custom for these students to undergo 
a very strict investigation with respect to their literary acquirements, f 
In that city, it was the province of the Achimbasi, or chief physician, 
most rigidly to examine those who were preparing to exercise the 
healing art, relative to their medical knowledge ; and, after they had 
passed such examination, they received testimonials, authorising them 
to practise in that country. $ A similar course of examination prevailed 
in Spain : and Casiri has noticed a treatise of Abu Jaafar Ahmad Ben 
Ishaac Alhusaini, a physician of Cordova ; which contains seventy- 
seven questions to be proposed to medical candidates. § Jahia Ben 
Mahmed Ibn Edden delivered his treatise on medicine to Albuhakem ; 
in order that some judgment might be formed from it, relative to the state 
of the medical art in Granada : this work was finished in the 719th year 
of the Hijra, A. D. 1341. f 

Sometimes, however, the academical doctors were required to read 
and interpret some work, accounted classical by the Arabs : thus, the 
ten books on the canon law, composed in the sixth century of the 
Hijra, by Muhammad Ahmad Abu Baker Ben Ali Giamara, a native 
of Murcia, were given to the professors of Cordova, Murcia, Valencia, 
and Granada, for the purpose of being lectured upon. 

The academies of the Spanish Arabs, indeed, have been considered 
as the abode of universal literature ; for, whatever tended to promote 

* Rodriguez de Castro, Biblioteca Espanola, torn. i. prolegom. p. 3, text. p. 11, 12. apud 
Middeldorpf, p. 54. f Alpinus, de Medicina iEgyptiorum, b i. c. 2. 

I Conringii Antiquitates Academicse (edit. Heumanni) p. 265. Middeldorpf, p. 54. 
§ Casiri, torn. i. p. 299, col. 1. ^[ Antonii BiMiotheca Hispana Vetus, torn. ii. p. 407. 

Pf 



218 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



its study, was commanded to be taught in them. Thus, the dogmatical 
treatise of Abu Muhammad Alhassan Ben Abdelrahman Alramhermez, 
on Traditions, was publicly approved by the Colleges of Spain, Syria, 
and Egypt, in the years of the Hijra561, 611, and 650, corresponding to 
A. D. 1165, 1214, and 1254 * The commentaries on the Book of Tra- 
ditions, by Abdulgani Ben Abdilvahid, a native of Jerusalem, received 
very great applause, from the Academies of Granada and Malaga.t In 
some cases, particular books were recommended to perusal : one in- 
stance of this kind it will be sufficient to notice, viz. the work of Ibn 
Alsala, on the Science of Traditions, which was so highly esteemed, 
that the Persian and Arabian Academies respectively decreed, that it 
should be publicly read in the schools.^ In later times, however, the 
licensing of books, at least of those treating on theological topics, 
appears to have been committed to the Mohammedan priests :§ and the 
academies also attempted not only to prescribe limits to the studies of 
learned men, but also dictated to them particular works, which they 
were to execute. Thus, Nasiruddm Ibn Assad, of Seville, in obedience 
to the college of that city, made a collection of the more difficult pro- 
ductions of the most eminent poets, which he disposed in alphabetical 
order, and illustrated with commentaries for the use of the students. || In 
like manner, Muhammad Ben Isa Abdalhac Algasanita, of Granada, 
collected together the poetical works of Ab'ulrabi Ibn Abi Mohamad, 
a native of Valencia, and published them, at the command of the Aca- 
demy of Granada, to which he dedicated his labours.^ It further 
appears, that the Spanish- Arabian Academies were accustomed to hold 
various public meetings to which the people were invited, similar to the 
Commencement and Act now annually held in our English Universi- 
ties. On these occasions, poems were recited, and orations were deli- 
vered by the most eminent persons in the academies : many instances 
of this kind occur in the elaborate volumes of Casiri ; but it will be 



* Casiri, torn. i. p. 539. col. 1. 
X Ibid. torn. i. p. 526. col. 2. 
|| Ibid. torn. i. p. 114. col. 1. 



f Ibid. torn. i. p. 517- col. 1. 
§ Ibid. torn. ii. p. 336. col. 2. 
51 Ibid. torn. i. p. 135. col. I. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



219 



sufficient for our present purpose to mention only the the two orations 
delivered by Mohamad Ben Isa Aba Baker,* at one of the yearly com- 
memorations in the Academy of Granada. 

To return from this digression, for which its importance and interest 
must be its apology ; — no nation, perhaps, ever existed, that felt and 
expressed a deeper reverence than the Arabians did, for the cause of 
learning. C£ No sooner," says a poet, " do I see a learned man, than I 
cc long to prostrate myself before him, and kiss the dust of his feet."f 
Both the written and traditional law came in aid of this laudable sen- 
timent: " Equally valuable are the ink of the doctor and the blood of 
" the martyr." " To him, Paradise is open, who leaves behind him, 
" his pens and his ink ;" or, in other words, who by his example com- 
mends his learning to his descendants. ' c The world is supported by 
" four things only; — the learning of the wise and the justice of the 
" great, the prayers of the good, and the valour of the brave." 

Their practice held a conformity to these ideas ; and we have already 
seen with what zeal and perseverance the Khalifs encouraged and pro- 
pagated learning, when the first ebullitions of their zeal for their faith 
of Islam subsided, and their empire was established. Even when the 
Khilafat was dismembered by rival claimants, no difference of senti- 
ment or conduct prevailed in this respect ; and Baghdad, Cordova, 
Cairo, and Kairuan, were equally the seats of royalty and learning. 
The independent Emirs, scattered over the oriental provinces, were 
animated with the same disposition : even those disorderly bands, 
whose trade was pillage and devastation, no sooner established them- 
selves on the coasts of an enemy, than they strove with their power to 
co-extend the influence of learning, by opening academies and; diffusing 
knowledge. Nor let it be forgotten, that the once celebrated medical 
school at Salerno, owed its foundation to the love of science, that ani- 
mated the breast of rovers and free-booters. A people, proverbially 

* He was distinguished for the brilliancy and learning displayed in his poetical works, but ex- 
celled most in amatory poems, in which he is reputed to have had no equal. Casiri, torn. ii. 
p. 77. col. 2. 

f Introd. to Lit. Hist, of the 14th and 15th centuries, p. 89 



220 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



savage, the piratical hordes of Algiers and Marocco, were softened by 
the address of these mighty masters of civilization into a reverence and 
love for learning. Those very cities, which now resound with the cries 
of Christian captives, then heard the less alarming voice of disputation, 
prided themselves in their scholars, and pensioned philosophers.* 

Such a people, it is obvious, would bestow peculiar attention on their 
language, as the necessary or ornamental dress of their favourite, 
learning : and hence we find, that grammar and rhetoric were culti- 
vated with singular care by all who aspired to literary honours and 
distinction. The Arabians boasted highly of the antiquity of their 
language, which is unquestionable : its copiousness, alike incontestible, 
was the object of their pride ; and, according to their elevated ideas, 
no uninspired mortal was ever a complete master of Arabic. f There 
were several dialects of it, each greatly differing from the others, but 
the principal were, the Himyaric, which was spoken by the tribe of 
Himyar, and the other genuine Arabs, and that of the Koreish. The 
first, though the language of the most powerful of the Arabian princes, 
appears, however, to have been but little cultivated by the independent 
tribes, or even by those who paid them feudal obedience : a remarkable 
instance of which is related by Muhammadan writers. An envoy from 
a feudatory state, having been sent to the Tobba, or King by succession, 
the sovereign, on his introduction, pronounced the word T'heb, which 
in the Himyaric dialect implied " Be seated :" unhappily it signified 
Precipitate yourself, in the native dialect of the ambassador ; who, 
with singular deference for his sovereign's orders, without hesitation 
or inquiry, threw himself from the castle wall and perished. :|: The 
dialect of the Koreish is usually styled the pure Arabic, or, as it is 
termed by the Koran, which is written in this dialect, the perspicuous 

* Introd to Lit. Hist, of the 14th and 15th centuries, p. 91. 

■j- Sir William Jones's Works, vol. iii. p. 54. (Svo. edit.) or Asiat. Res. vol. ii. pp. 5, 6. Sale's 
Koran, Prel. Disc. vol. 1. p. 34. 8vo. edit. Of the copiousness of this language some idea may 
be formed, when it is known that the Arabians had eighty synonymes for honey, two hundred for a 
serpent, five hundred for a lion, and one thousand for a sword ! 

X Richardson's Dissertation on the Language, &c. of the Eastern Nations, p. 5. 8vo. edit. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



221 



and clear Arabic : its politeness and elegance are attributed to the tribe 
of the Koreish, having the custody of the Caaba, and residing in Mecca, 
the centre of Arabia ; which was not only more remote from foreigners, 
might corrupt their language, but was also frequented by the Arabs 
from the whole of the surrounding country, both for the sake of reli- 
gion, and likewise for the adjustment of their differences, from whose 
discourse and verses they adopted such words and phrases, as they 
judged to be more pure and elegant ; and thus the beauties of the 
whole tongue became gradually transfused into this dialect.* The 
independence of the Arabian tribes is a further cause of the improvement 
of their language : for, although the Romans, Persians, and Ethiopians, 
made impressions at different times, upon particular districts, yet they 
were all too slight, and of too short a continuance, to make any mate- 
rial alteration in their government, manners, or language. To this 
must be added the care of the ancient Arabs (with whom the improve- 
ment of their idiom appears to have been a national concern), to polish 
their language, by the institution of solemn assemblies, for the purpose of 
displaying their poetical talents, and by holding it a duty to exercise 
their children in getting by heart the most approved compositions. f 

From this uncommon attention to promote emulation, and to refine 
their language, the dialect of the Koreish became the purest, the richest, 
and the most polite of all the Arabian idioms. It was, therefore, stu- 
died in preference to all the rest, and, about the beginning of the 
seventh century, became the general language of Arabia ; the other di- 
alects being either incorporated with it, or gradually falling into disuse. 
By this singular idiomatic union, like the confluence of many streams 
into one large river, the Arabic has acquired an uncommon fullness: 
while the luxuriance of its synonymes, and the equivocal or opposite 
senses of the same or similar words, h^ve furnished their writers with a 
wonderful power of indulging, in the fullest range, their favourite 
passion for antithesis and quaint allusion. $ 

* Sale's Koran, Pr. Disc. vol. i. p. 34. 

■J" Sir William Jones's Works, vol. iii. p. 67. 

| Richardson's Dissertation, p. 8. 



222 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



Of the characters, employed for the communication of ideas, and for 
preserving the compositions of ancient Arabia, we know but little ; 
except that, as the Pagan Arabs had a number of dialects, so they had 
a variety of characters, all of which, however, were so perplexed in 
their formation, and so difficult in their use ; that, about the begin- 
ning of the seventh century, the Himyaric characters* were laid 
aside, and the Arabians adopted the invention of Moramer Ibn Morra, 
a native of Anbar, a city of Babylonian Irak, who lived not long before 
the time of Muhammad. f In this character the Koran was originally 
written : it was afterwards improved under the appellation of Cufic, 
and continued in use until the appearance of the Nishki character in 
the tenth century of the Christian aera.J As this new mode of writing- 
soon prevailed universally, the Cufic gradually declined, and is now 

* It is certain, that the art of writing, in some sort of characters, was known in Arabia in a 
very early period: it is mentioned by the patriarch Job (ch.xix- v. 23, 24). The Himyaric cha- 
racters, above-noticed, were those used by the tribe of Hirayar, (whence their name), many 
centuries before the age of Muhammad, as appears from some ancient monuments still existing in 
Yaman, which are said to have inscriptions on them : these monuments, the learned traveller, 
Niebuhr, was, unfortunately for the interests of literature, prevented from visiting (Descr. de 
l'Arabie, p. 83). The Himyaric mode of writing, Casiri says, was called the Himyaric Heed, 
and consisted of mutilated, imperfect, and perplexed characters, which had so far fallen into dis- 
use, in the time of Muhammad, that no person could be found, who was able to decypher an 
inscription written in these characters, which was discovered at Samarcand in the early years of 
the Hijra (Casiri, vol. ii. p. 25. col. 2.) Sale calls this character Al Mosnad, and adds, that 
it was neither publicly taught nor suffered to be used without permission being first obtained. 
Koran, vol. i. Prel.Disc. p. 34. 

f Ebn Khalican apud Pococke Spec. Hist. Arab. p. 153. The same historian further says, 
that with the exception of the Jews and Christians resident in Medina, and who for their learning 
were distinguished by the appellation of " the people of the book"— so great was the ignorance 
of the Arabs, that not a single person could be found in the whole district of Yaman, who could 
either read or write Arabic ! 

+ The Cufic characters also appear on Arabian coins, struck so late as the 14th century : they 
derive their name from the city of Cufa, or Cufah, a town in Arabian Irak ; and, Sir William Jones 
says, unquestionably had a common origin with the Hebrew or Chaldaic. Works, vol. iii. p. 55. 
Niebuhr has given some specimens of Cufic writing, both from MSS. and Coins. Descr. de 
l'Arabie, pp. 84—88, et Planches IV. a XII. Most of the MSS. described by Casiri, are written 
in the same characters. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 223 

rarely to be found except in manuscripts and inscriptions executed in 
the early ages of the Hijra ; some very beautiful specimens of the Ciific 
character are engraven in Mr. Murphy's elaborate Work on the " Ara- 
bian Antiquities of Spain,"* accompanied with translations by Professor 
Shakespear. The invention of the Nishki character, together with the 
diacritic points, which, with some variations or corruptions, is the same 
that now prevails in Arabia, Persia, f India, and other eastern coun- 
tries, is generally ascribed to Ibn Moklah, Vizir to the Khalifs Al 
Muktadir, Al Kahir, and Al RadT, (who reigned between the years 
908 and 940 of the Christian aera) : but it was afterwards altered and 
improved by many eminent penmen, and was reduced to its present 
form by Yakut Al Mustasimi, secretary to Al Mustasim, the lastKhalif 
of the dynasty of Al- Abbas, and who, by way of distinction, was sur- 
named Al Khattat, or the Scribe. £ 

When the Arabs began to direct their attention to the cultivation of 
literature, the improvement and perfecting of their language engaged 
the studies and labours of a considerable number of learned men, who 
were divided into the two rival schools ofCufa and Bassora, which pro- 
duced many distinguished scholars, who analysed all the rules of the 
Arabic Language with the utmost nicety and accuracy. Nor were the 
literati of Spain inferior to those of the east in the prosecution of their 
grammatical investigations^ and it has been remarked, that the number 

* See particularly Plates LXXX. to LXXXVII. The translations of the poems, whence some 
of the above-mentioned inscriptions are taken, are given infra, in the Appendix. 

-f- The Persians and Turks have five letters more in their alphabet, than the Arabs. Fournier, 
Manuel Typographique, torn. ii. p. 278. 

X Casiri, torn. ii. p. 25. coll. 2. Sale, vol. i. Prel. Disc. p. 35. Richardson's Diss. p. 10. 
Niebuhr, Descr. de l'Arabie, p. 89. 

§ Casiri, torn. i. (Praef.) p. ix. Among the hundreds of grammatical works, preserved in MS. 
in the Escurial Library, he particularly mentions an Introduction to a correct and chastised mode 
of Speaking, by Abu Mohammed Abdallah Ibn Hescham (ibid. p. 12. col. 2. and p. 24. col. 1.) 
In this work, which holds a distinguished character among the Arabians, the author treats, in the 
first part, on the purity of the Arabic language, and in the second he delivers precepts for the 
study of eloquence. In the course of his labours^ he reviews and corrects the errors of numerous 
former grammarians. 



224 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



of Arabian grammarians greatly exceeds that of the Greek writers on 
grammar. 

The Arabians were early possessed of dictionaries : their first lexicon 
was compiled in the first century of the Hijra. Zamakhshari is the 
author of a dictionary, in which the meaning of every word is supported 
by numerous examples drawn from the rhetoricians and poets. Golius 
makes very honourable mention of the lexicons of Jauhari and Firuza- 
badi, particularly of the first ; that of the latter is said to have consisted 
of sixty volumes ! Ibn Al-Cossa composed an Onomasticon of scho- 
lastic, theological, and philosophical words : there were also distinct 
dictionaries of the names of animals and plants, as well as lexicons of 
the Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and Spanish languages. This taste for dic- 
tionaries continued until modern times, for Leo the African composed 
one in three languages.* 

Of the early eloquence of the Arabs, little can be said, though it was 
both known and practised in Arabia while freedom flourished, being 
one of the three national characteristics by which they were proud to 
be distinguished ; yet it must have been strongly tinctured with the 
rudeness of the times. The Koran is the first Arabic composition in 
prose which we have : of its doctrines it falls not within our plan to 
treat: but, as a literary work, its style is generally admitted to be pure 
and elegant, though not without some mixture of other dialects. Not- 
withstanding the want of connexion between its parts, and its conse- 
quent obscurity (for the different chapters of which it is composed are 
arranged according to their length, rather than the subject matter), it 
must nevertheless be admitted, that no other Arabic work that is 
extant, contains passages more truly sublime and poetical, and which 
at the same time are written with more transporting eloquence. A 
great judge of oriental literaturef has remarked, that Muhammad, or 
his assistant, whoever it might be, that composed the Koran, must 
have been endowed with admirable wit and genius, and with equal 

* Casiri, torn. i. p. 172. col. 1. Andres, torn. ii. pp. 18, 19. 

-j- Sir William Jones. Works, vol. vi. pp. 339, 340 (De Poesi Asiat. c. xx. sub initio). 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 225 

powers of persuasion : nor was his prudence less admirable, which so 
dexterously accommodated itself to the understandings and ears of an 
uncultivated multitude. In the form of didactic precept, in which the 
Koran is written, and under that authority of a master which its author 
assumes, it was not difficult for him to impose upon the simple and 
unsuspecting minds of his followers, who were interested in the success 
of his arms ; and to whom the] idea of his divine commission was wel- 
come, as affording the spirit and support of their party. Nor is there 
a necessity for recurring to any other cause, to account for the admira- 
tion in which this composition is still held, than that principle of 
attachment, with which all men are disposed to regard the earliest 
productions of their country* 

The eloquence of the Koran was a principal cause of its success : it is, 
confessedly, the standard of the Arabic language ; and, as the more 
orthodox Moslems believe, and are taught by the book itself, is inimi- 
table by any human pen. It has, therefore, been always held forth as 
the greatest of miracles, and equally stupendous with the act of raising 
the dead, and alone sufficient to convince the world of its divine origi- 
nalf: and to this pretended miracle, Muhammad chiefly appealed for the 
confirmation of his mission, publicly challenging the most eloquent of 
his contemporaries in Arabia to produce even a single chapter that might 
be compared with it. Though written in prose, yet the sentences gene- 
rally conclude in a long continued rhyme, for the sake of which the 
sense is often interrupted, and unnecessary repetitions are too frequently 
made which appear still more ridiculous in a translation, where the 
ornament, such as it is, for whose sake they were made, cannot be 

* For this remark we are indebted to the late learned Professor White's celebrated Bampton 
Lectures (notes arid authorities, p. xxx), to which the inquisitive reader is referred for much inte- 
resting disquisition relative to Mohammedism. 

•f Maiacci de Alcorano, cap. 6. p. 43, 44. The celebrated writer, Al Jannabi, in one of the 
passages cited by Maracci, asserts that the Koran contains sixty thousand miracles ! 

\ Koran, ch. 2, 11, and 17- Sale's Prel. Disc. vol. i. p. 80. 

Gg 



226 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



perceived.* The style of the Koran is generally beautiful and fluent, 
especially where it imitates the prophetic manner and scriptural phrases. 
It is concise, but often obscure, adorned with bold figures after the 
eastern taste, and in many places, especially where the majesty and 
attributes of God are described, sublime and magnificent.t Yet, as the 
elegant historian of the Roman Empire has justly observed, " The 
" harmony and copiousness of its style will not reach, in a version, 
" the European infidel : he will peruse, with impatience, the endless 
" incoherent rhapsody of fable, and precept, and declamation, which 
" seldom excites a sentiment or an idea, which sometimes crawls in the 
" dust, and is sometimes lost in the clouds. The divine attributes exalt 
" the fancy of the Arabian missionary ; but his loftiest strains must 
" yield to the sublime simplicity of the book of Job, composed in a 
<c remote age, in the same country, and in the same language/'^ The 

* Sale's Prel. Disc. vol. i. p. 81. Pfeifferi Critica Sacra, cap. 16. Qusest. 3. (Opera Philol. 
vol.ii. p. 817), et De Theol. Judaic, atque Mohammedic. Thes. 18. (ibid. p. 937). Casiri, 
torn. i. p. 48. col. 2. 

-J- Sale, vol. i. p. 81. Of the sublimity of the Koran, the following passage may be adduced in 
illustration of the remark in the text: it is deservedly admired by the Mohammedans, who wear 
it engraved on their ornaments, and recite it in their prayers : — " God ! there is no God but he ; 
" the living, the self-subsisting : neither slumber nor sleep seizeth him : to him belongeth what- 
" soever is in heaven and on earth. Who is he that can intercede with him, but through his good 
" pleasure ? He knoweth that which is past, and that which is to come. His throne is extended 
" over heaven and earth ; and the preservation of both is to him no burden. He is the high and 
a mighty." (Koran, ch. ii. vol. i. p. 37- 8vo. or p. 30 of 4to. edit.). To this description, observes 
Professor White, who can refuse the praise of magnificence ? Part of that magnificence, how- 
ever, is to be referred to that verse of the Psalmist, whence it was borrowed, '* He that keepeth 
" Israel, shall neither slumber nor sleep." Psal. cxxi. v. 4. But if we compare it with that other 
passage of the same inspired Psalmist, all its boasted grandeur is at once obscured, and lost in the 
blaze of a greater light. " O, my God," says he, " take me not away in the midst of my days ; 
et thy years are throughout all generations. Of old hast thou laid the foundations of the earth ; 
" and the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure : yea, all 
" of them shall wax old as doth a garment ; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall 
" be changed, but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail." (Psal. cii. v. 24-27). Bampton 
Lectures, p, 248. 

X Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol. ix. p. 269. 8vo. edit 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN 



227 



Koran is not only the foundation of the faith of the Moslems, but, so 
delighted are the Arabians with the euphony of its periods, that it is 
considered by them as a classic : hence they employ it in their most 
elaborate compositions, and embellish these with frequent passages 
selected from it, and also with allusions to it; so that it becomes al- 
most impossible to understand them, without being well versed in the 
Koran. 

After the time of Muhammad and his immediate successors, popular 
eloquence for some time ceased to be cultivated by the Arabians : 
oriental despotism having substituted itself in place of the freedom of 
the desert, the chiefs of the state and of the army alike considered it 
as beneath them, to harangue either the people or the soldiery. But, 
though political eloquence held but a short sway over the Arabians, the 
latter, by way of retaliation, became the inventors of that species, 
which in our times is most cultivated, t They exercised themselves, 
alternately, in the eloquence of the academy and of the pulpit : and 
their philosophers eagerly seized the opportunity of displaying before 
learned assemblies, the varied numbers and harmony of their beautiful 
language. Among the orators who were most distinguished in this 
department of literature, Ibn-Malik was considered as the most pathetic; 
Ibn-Shuraif was acknowledged to possess the a t of blending the bril- 
liancy of poetry with the vigour of prose, more skilfully than any other 
orator ; and Al Hariri was placed in the same rank with Demost e es 
and Cicero. The last-mentioned orator was the author o some 
academical compositions ; which, to adopt the expressi #s of Shirazi, 
deserved to be written, — not on paper or vellum, — but, on silk and 
gold.J 

With respect to the eloquence of the pulpit, as Muhammad had or- 
dained that his faith should be preached in every mosque, the appella- 
tion of Khatib, which originally was common to all orators, became 

-j- Sismondi, Hist. Litt. du Midi de l'Europe, torn. ii. p. 51. 

\ Sir William Jones has given a very high character of the fifty declamations of Hariri, on the 
reverses of fortune, and on the treatise of Ezzo'ddin, intituled " a Revelation of Secrets concerning 
" the Properties of Birds and Flowers." De Poesi Asiat. c. xx. (Works, vol. vi. pp. 342, 343). 



228 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



gradually restricted to those who inculcated the doctrines and duties of 
Islamism; and their sermons or discourses were called Khutbah. In 
the library of the Escurial, we meet with the names and titles of the 
works of not less than sixty of these orators ; whose mode of proceeding 
is not unlike that adopted by the ministers of the Christian Religion. 
The preachers commence their sermons by thanksgiving and a profes- 
sion of faith, to which succeed prayers for the sovereign, and the pros- 
perity and happiness of his dominions. The text is then expounded, 
and the subject matter opened, which is further supported by passages 
from the Koran, by authorities drawn from the writings of their doctors, 
and by examples : the preacher concludes with an application to the 
people, whom he exhorts to virtue, while he reprobates vice. 

The didactic writers on rhetoric are so numerous, that our notice is 
necessarily limited to a very few of the most eminent. Of this descrip- 
tion is the work of Badruddm, the son of Ibn-Malik TaT, intituled the 
Torch,* which (says Andres) diffused light over every species of elo- 
quence : this author flourished at Granada in the sixth century of the 
Hijra. Abu Muhammad Abdullah, a native of Badajos, in the ninth 
century of the same sera, wrote Institutions of Rhetoric and the Art of 
Poetry, under the title of " A Method of Writing." The " Flowery 
Meadow," of Jallaludcjln Abdurrahman, surnamed Al Soyuti, ought 
not to be passed in silence : it presents the fairest and finest view of 
Arabic literature, and exhibits much important information which will 
in vain be sought elsewhere. To this work our learned Pococke ac- 
knowledges his ee Specimen Historiee Arabum" to be chiefly indebted 
for whatever learning it may contain. f But the most celebrated writer 
on rhetoric, is Al-Sekaki, a native of Persia, who has been called the 
Quintilian of the Arabians. :{: His Institutions, known by the appella- 
tion of the Key of the Sciences, are divided into three parts : in the first, 

* Casiri, torn. i. p. 58. col. 2. 

t Casiri, torn. i. p. 56. col. 2. The library of the Escurial contains a great number of treatises 
by this distinguished Arabian scholar. 

X Casiri, torn. i. p. 29. col. 1. and p. 48. col. 1. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



229 



he treats on the elements of Grammar; in the second, he discusses the 
art of Oratory ; and the third contains the Art of Poetry. This work 
has been commented upon, and illustrated by various learned Arabians, 
to whom we are indebted for sixty other works on rhetoric, a consi- 
derable number of which is deposited in the library of the Escurial.* 

Poetry, however, was a far more favourite object of attention with 
the Arabians, than Eloquence : but it is so immense a field, that he 
who enters it, is in danger of losing his way, for Arabia is said to have 
produced more poets than all the rest of the world together. That it 
was early cultivated, is certain ; and the Arabs appear to have been 
chiefly indebted to their poetry for the polishing, and even for the pre- 
servation of their language, before the use of letters was introduced 
among them.f A difference of opinion, however subsists between the 
most eminent judges of Arabian poesy, relative to its antiquity, £ which 
it is exceedingly difficult to reconcile ; but we are not involved in the 

* Andres, torn. ii. pp. 21 — 25. 

■f Jallaluddln al Soyuti, apud Casiri, torn. i. p. 17, col. 2, and p. 72- col. I. 

X The elder Albert Schultens, in his Monumenta Vetustiora Arabics, (Lug. Bat. 4to. 1740), 
has collected many specimens of ancient Arabian Poetry : among these are two little poems in an 
elegiac strain, said to have been discovered about the middle of the seventh century in some frag- 
ments of ruined edifices in ELidramut, near Aden, and which are supposed to be of an indefinite, 
but very remote age. It may, Sir William Jones remarks, naturally be asked, in what characters 
were they written ? Who rlecyphered them ? Why were not the original letters preserved in the 
book where the verses are cited? What became of the marbles which Abdurrahman, then Go- 
vernor of Yemen, most probably sent to the Khalif at Baghdad ? If they be genuine, they prove 
the people of Yemen to have been herdsmen and warriors, inhabiting a well-watered country full 
of game,>and near a fine sea abounding with fish, under a monarchical government, and dressed in 
green silk, or vests of needle work, either of their own manufacture, or imported from India. 
The measure of these verses, that elegant scholar continues, is perfectly regular, and the dialect 
undistinguishable, by him at least, from that of the Koreish : so that, if the Arabian writers were 
much addicted to literary impostures, Sir William Jones would strongly suspect them to be mo- 
dern compositions on the instability of human greatness, and the consequences of irreligion, illus- 
trated by the example of the Himyaric princes ; and he suspects the same of the first poem quoted 
by Schultens, which he ascribes to an Arab in the age of Solomon (Works, vol, iii. p. 61.) As 
Abulfeda (Annales, torn. i. p. 22, et seq.) has cited some parts of this poem, his learned editor 



230 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



same degree of uncertainty, with regard to the subjects which engaged 
the ancient muses of Arabia. In their poems were preserved their 
genealogies, the rights of tribes and the memory of great actions. An 
excellent poet reflected an honour on his tribe : and his merit and 
genius were celebrated by the applause of his own, and of the kindred 
tribes. A solemn banquet was prepared : and a chorus of women, de- 
corated with their nuptial ornaments, and striking their timbrels, sung 
in the presence of their sons and husbands the felicity of their native 
tribe ; who now had a champion to vindicate their rights, to preserve 
their genealogies and the purity of their language, and to transmit 
their actions to posterity. The distant or hostile tribes resorted to an 
annual fair, held at a place called Ocadh, which was abolished by the 
bigotry of the first Moslems. Thirty days were employed in the ex- 
change, not only of corn and wine, but also of eloquence and poetry. 
The prize was disputed by the generous emulation of the bards ; the 
merits of whose respective productions were impartially determined by 
the assembly at large ; and the victorious performance was deposited 
in the archives of princes and emirs.* The indissoluble union of gene- 

Reiske (Annotat. Histor. p. 9, not. 15.) has given his opinion against its remote antiquity, and 
thinks it more recent than even the age of Muhammad. He further asserts, that there is not one 
of the poems in Schultens's collection, who ascribes to them a date of seven hundred years prior 
to Muhammad, that is not counterfeited and supposititious. " There is," he continues, " no trace 
of antiquity whatever, nor any vestige of the Himyaric dialect to he found in them : they are 
written in a prosaic style. If, indeed, they were Himyaric, they would abound in terms and words 
peculiar to that tribe, and which scarcely a single Arabian understands. But where are these 
idiomatic expressions, — where those characters of the Himyaric dialect ? In reply to these obser- 
vations of Reiske, another celebrated scholar observes, that there is nothing peculiar to be discovered 
in these verses, nor different from the common language: but, let us suppose that individual forms 
of words, which were either obsolete or foreign, have imperceptibly been changed for others more 
familiar ; and this will appear very probable, when it is considered, that the ancient verses in 
question were committed to memory, preserved by tradition, and not transmitted by writing. 
Further, the absence of poetical skill and colouring, is so far from proving any thing against their 
antiquity, that it rather tends to confirm it. Schnurrer, Bibliotheca Arabica, pp. 204 — 205. 
* Sale's Koran, vol. i. p. 36 — 38. Casiri, vol. ii. p. 17. Gibbon, vol. ix. p. 241. It is worthy 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



231 



rosity and valour was the darling theme of their song ; and when they 
pointed their keenest satire against a contemptible race, they affirmed, 
in the bitterness of reproach, that their men knew not how to give, nor 
their women to deny. 

The Arabians, like the Greeks, boast of their poetical Pleiades, or 
seven illustrious bards, whose works are considered as the finest that 
were written before the time of Muhammad ; and on account of their 
uncommon excellence, are distinguished by the appellation of Mualla- 
kat, or Suspended, because they were suspended around the Caaba, or 
Temple at Mecca ; and of Mudhahibat, or the Golden Verses, being 
written in characters of gold upon Egyptian paper.* In later times, 
the Arabians have also had their Horace, their Propertius, and their 
Tibullus. But, notwithstanding poetry was early cultivated by them, 
they did not at first write their poems of any just length, but only 
expressed themselves in verse occasionally ; nor was their prosody 
digested into rules until some time after Muhammad. When the 
empire of the Arabs became established, and peace was restored, the 
taste for poetry, as well as other branches of literature revived. Under 
the Khalifs of the house of Al-Abbas, the muses of Arabia, which 
had long been silent, resumed the lyre ; and, in the reigns of Harun 
Ar-Rashld, of his successor Al-Mamun, and especially of the Khalifs 
of the Ommiyad dynasty in Spain, the Arabian poetry attained its 
highest degree of splendour. It was first submitted to regular rules by 
Khalil Ibn Ahmad al Farahidi, who lived in the reign of Harun Arra- 
shid ; but received still greater improvements from MutanabbT, who is 
styled the prince of poets. 

of remark, that the public congratulations above-mentioned were made only on the birth of a boy, 
the rise of a poet, and foaling of a mare of a generous breed ; which the Arabians esteemed three 
points of great felicity. 

* The seven poems of the Caaba were published in English by the late Sir William Jones, 
whose honourable mission to India (and subsequent death in that country) has deprived us of his 
notes, far more valuable than the text itself. The poems form part of the tenth volume of the 
octavo edition of his works. 



232 THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



The Arabians cultivated poetry with the greatest ardour, both under 
the patronage of the eastern Khalifs, and also in Spain. The greatest 
encouragement was given to them by the sovereigns and great men, who 
liberally rewarded them for the exertions of their muse. *Confined as this 
sketch is chiefly to the literature of Arabian Spain, its limits preclude an 
enumeration even of those poets, who were accounted the principal : it 
may, however, be remarked, that the descendants of royalty did not 
think it beneath their dignity to cultivate the muse ; and that many 
eminent women applied themselves to the same elegant pursuit. Among 
these, the following are the most distinguished, viz. Muatammad Ibn 
Abbad, Sultan of Seville, and All Ibn Abd Algany of Cordova, who 
was patronised by Muatammad :f — Valada, or Valadata, the daughter 
of Almuastakfi Billah, Khalif of Spain, who is considered as the Arabian 
Sappho ; endowed with equal beauty and genius, she devoted herself 
entirely to the study of rhetoric and poetry, and cultivated the friend- 
ship of the most eminent poets of her time, in whose conversation she 
took great delight.:}: Aysha, the daughter of Prince Ahmad of Cordova, 
who was pre-eminently distinguished for her genius, learning, and 

*The poetical MSS. in the library of the EscuriaL, including commentators and critics on the 
works of poets, amount to two hundred and twenty-one, many of which comprise the productions 
of several authors. As an instance of the munificent encouragement of the great, Casiri relates 
from Leo Africanus, that, early in the morning of certain days, the poets of Fez were accustomed 
to assemble at the Governor's house, where they recited verses in praise of Muhammad before an 
immense concourse of people ; and that he, whose verses were most applauded, received a hun- 
dred ducats (centum aureis), a robe which the king wore that day, and a female slave. The other 
poets received fifty ducats each, so that no one departed without partaking of the royal bounty : 
the poet Aladdin, Casiri adds, once received five thousand golden ducats from Malek Aldener 
Bibar, King of Egypt, for two distichs only. Bibliotlieca Arab. Escurial. torn. i. pp. S4, 85. 

-f- The late learned Professor Carlyle, has given a version of two of their productions, in his 
elegant c£ Specimens of Arabian Poetry," pp. 104 — 108, 8vo. edit. The composition of the Sultan 
is both pleasing and mournful : the verges of Ibn Abd are much inferior, and not very unlike the 
compositions of our own metaphysical poets in the seventeenth century. 

J Her poetical compositions are characterised by wit and ingenuity, as will appear from the 
following verses, addressed by her, impromptu, to some young men who had pretended a passion 
for herself and her companions : 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



233 



poetical talents; her orations and poems were very frequently read in 
the Royal Academy at Cordova with the greatest applause ; she died 
in the year of the Hijra 400 — A. D. 977, leaving behind her numerous 
monuments of her genius, together with a very extensive and well- 
selected library: — Labana, also a native of Cordova, of great merit as 
a poetess, who was well skilled in philosophy and arithmetic, and held 
an office not often enjoyed by females, that of private secretary to the 
Khalif Alhakam : — Safia, of Seville, who, in addition to distinguished 
oratorical and poetical talents, excelled all others in the calligraphic 
art ; so that her penmanship was at once the subject of admiration, and 
an example to be copied by the most skilful scribes : — Algasania, of 
Seville, who was singularly gifted with poetical and oratorical powers, 
and composed many poems in praise of some Khalifs, which were 
highly commended : and Maria, the daughter of Abu Yakub Al 
Faisuli, who has been called the Arabian Corinna ; she also, was emi- 
nent for learning and poetry. Casiri mentions an epigram of her's, 
extant in the Arabic Library at the Escurial, of such elegance and 
ingenuity, that, on comparing it with other epigrams, the productions 
of illustrious poets, nothing more elegant can be found.* Some speci- 
mens of the Arabian muse will be found in the Appendix to this work, 
which contains the poems from which passages are most elegantly in- 
scribed on the walls of the Alhamra. 

" When you told us our glances, soft, timid, and mild, 
" Could occasion such wounds in the heart, 
" Can ye wonder that years, so ungoverned and wild, 
(i Some wounds to our cheeks should impart ? 

" The wounds on our cheeks are but transient, I own, 
" With a blush they appear and decay : 
" But those on the heart, fickle youths, ye have shewn, 
" To be even more transient than they." 

Carlyle's Specimens, p. 103. Casiri, torn. i. p. 106'. Casiri relates that this princess uniformly 
gained the prize in her academical contests, whether in prose or verse (torn. ii. p. 149). She died 
in the year of the Hijra, 484. A.D- 1091. 
* Casiri, t.ii. p. 150. 

hIi 



234 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



The number of poets was so great, that Abu'l Abbas, son of the 
Khalif Muatassim, wrote an abridgment of their lives s he notices one 
hundred and thirty-one poets, and gives specimens of their productions. 
Casiri has further recorded the fragment of a work, intitled " The 
C£ Theatre of the Poets," which originally consisted of twenty-four 
volumes.* In the library of the Escurial, there are numerous collec- 
tions of poems, termed Divans, or Academical Prolusions, from the 
circumstance of their having been honoured with a recital in the col- 
leges or academies : they consist of idyls, elegies, epigrams, odes, 
satires, and almost every other species of poetry which we have received 
from the Greeks and Romans. t The Divan of Abu Nawas contains 
all these different kinds of poetry ; and that of Ibn Mukannas, who for 
his acuteneness and wit has been styled the Arabian Martial, has 
attained great celebrity. Of all the various species of poetical compo- 
sition, whether amatory, elegiac, pastoral, moral, or satirical, which 
were cultivated by the Arabians, didactic poetry appears to have been 
the most fashionable. Hence we find, that they wrote in verse, trea- 
tises on grammar, theology, rhetoric, and even on the abstruse sciences, 
with as much facility as in prose. Amid all this variety, it is a curious 
circumstance, that they have not a single poem which is strictly epic : 
they are, however, in possession of elegant histories, adorned with all 
the charms of poetry. In these histories we meet with bold and strongly 
marked images, lively expressions, and most beautiful descriptions, 
clothed in such a variety of numbers, that nothing can be conceived 
better adapted to delight, instruct, or deeply affect the reader.^ 

Dramatic poetry was as little cultivated by the Arabians, as the epic: 
they appear to have been equally unacquainted with tragedy and co- 
medy, unless we dignify with that appellation a few dialogues in rhyme. 

* Casiri, torn. i. p. 6G. col. ii. -J* Casiri, torn. i. p. 85. col. 2. 

\ Sir William Jones classes the History of Timur, by the celebrated Ibn Arabshah, among the 
heroic poems of this description. De Po'esi Asiatica, cap. 12. (Works, vol. vi. pp.227 — 231.1 
To which the reader is referred for a classical account of the poetry of the Arabians. Some excel- 
lent remarks on their epic poetry also occur in Professor Carlyle's Specimens, preface, pp. xi — xiir. 
On the versification of Arabian poetry, Casiri may likewise be consulted, torn. i. pp. 86 — 87. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



235 



Only two poetical compositions are extant, that bear even a slight 
resemblance to comedy. The first is that of Muhammad, a native of 
Velez, in which the interlocutors converse on various arts, and reproach 
each other with their deficiencies, sometimes jocularly, and at others, 
with abusive language : on the whole, it is rather to be considered as a 
satire than a comedy. The other piece, with somewhat better preten- 
sions to the title, is styled the Comedy of Blatero, and is divided into 
three parts or acts. The subject of the first is, the sale of a horse, and 
the characters introduced are, Blatero, a quarrelsome chieftain, and a 
lawyer ; who, in the course of their squabble concerning the sale of the 
animal, utter many acute and witty sayings. The second part describes 
the customs and frauds practised by itinerant physicians, astrologers, 
and other vagabonds, whose arts for deceiving the vulgar are detected 
and unmasked : and the third part exhibits the manners of lovers.* 

In order fully to appreciate the beauties of Arabian poetry, it is ne- 
cessary that the reader should be acquainted with the country in which 
the poet lived, its situation and peculiarities, and also with the manners 
of the inhabitants and the idiom of the language. f For want of this 
knowledge, the Arabian muses have been criticised with extreme seve- 
rity and injustice. Oriental poetry abounds with strong expressions, 
bold metaphors, glowing sentiments, and animated descriptions, pour- 
trayed in the most lively colours : and, although our limits forbid a 
detailed examination of all the sources from which the poetical images 
of the Arabians derive their astonishing brilliancy, yet a few remarks 
may, perhaps, be permitted, illustrative of the genius of Arabian poetry, 
and at the same time to point out some of those advantages which 
Asiatic authors enjoy over Europeans. 

In the first place, their idioms are rich and copious ; they live in a 
warm and fertile climate, surrounded by objects equally beautiful and 
agreeable, from which, however, the sublime are not excluded ; they 
enjoy a delightful repose, and devote their leisure to a passion, which 

* Casiri, torn. ii. p. 136. col. i. 

f Sir W. Jones de Po'esi Asiatic!, cap. v. (Works, vol. vi. pp. 100, 101). This elegant scholar 
has given several very happy illustrations of the remark above given. 



206 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



contributes early to inspire them with good taste, and which is the true 
spring and source of agreeable poetry. Hence, we find that love has 
a greater share in their poems than any other passion : it seems always 
to be uppermost in their minds, and there is hardly an elegy, a pane- 
gyric, or even a satire, in their language, which does not begin with 
the complaints of an unfortunate, or the exultations of a successful 
lover. To these sources of Arabian poetry must be added the richness 
and beauty of their language ; which is expressive, strong, sonorous, 
and perhaps the most copious in the world : for, as almost every tribe 
had words appropriated to itself, the poets, for the convenience of their 
measure, or sometimes for their singular beauty, made use of them all ; 
and, as these poems became popular, they were gradually incorporated 
with the whole language, like a number of little streams which meet 
together in one channel, and, forming a most plentiful river, flow 
rapidly into the sea.* Further, among the peculiar advantages enjoyed 
by the Arabian poets, the veneration in which poetry is held, and the 
pleasure derived from it, are not to be regarded among the least. In 
the east, the smallest talent is cultivated: and they who possess any 
spark of genius, instead of suffering it to lie dormant, labour to distin- 
guish themselves in an art so universally respected. 

The Arabian poetry is in rhyme, which, however, does not fetter the 
sense as in European verses, the copiousness of the language furnishing 
the author with vast numbers of words having a similar termination : 
hence, in some of the longest Arabian poems, the same rhyme is con- 
tinued alternately through the whole work. From this facility of 
versification, as well as the warmth of the climate, Sir William Jones 
is inclined to think that Asia has produced more juvenile poets than 
any other quarter of the world : and to the same causes also he as- 
cribes the singular readiness and vivacity of the Arabians in their 
impromptus, -j* But, however extravagant the productions of the 

* Sir Wm. Jones's Works, vol. x. pp. 337 — 340. vol. xii. pp. 173 — 175. 

-J- Ibid, Works, vol. xii. pp. 177 — 179. Professor Carlyle has translated three pleasing poems 
of the most celebrated improvisatori poets in Baghdad, under the reign of the Khalif Mutawakkil. 
Specimens, pp. 54 — 58. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



237 



Arabian muse may appear to the more chastised taste of Europeans, it 
was subjected to particular laws, relative to the structure of the rhymes 
the form of the verses, and the length of the poems, which imparted to 
the whole composition that harmony, by which every phrase or verse 
was previously regulated.* The two forms of versification most in use 
are the Gazelle or Ghazal, and the Casside, or Kasida ; both are com- 
posed in distichs, and every other verse in each distich rhymes together 
throughout the poem, the intermediate verses not being in rhyme. The 
casside is an idyl, both amatory and martial, the length of which varies 
from ten to one hundred distichs : the gazelle is an amatory ode, which 
ought to contain not less than seven, nor more than thirteen distichs. 
The former is entirely in the style of Petrarch's Canzoni, and the latter 
of his sonnets : and, similar to Petrarch's Canzoniere, or collection of 
Canzoni and sonnets on different subjects, is the Divan of the Arabians 
and Persians above noticed. A complete Divan, in their judgment, is 
that, in which the poet has regularly followed all the letters of the 
alphabet in his rhymes ; and in this taste they have been imitated by all 
the poets that were formed in their school. 

Although the Arabians possess neither epic nor dramatic poetry, 
strictly so called, the absence of these is abundantly compensated by 
their invention of a kind of composition, which partakes of the nature 
of epic poesy, and is with them a substitute for theatrical representa- 
tions. To their creative fancy, to their brilliant and rich imagination, 
we owe those beautiful tales, which charm our juvenile minds, and 
which we re-peruse with equal delight in our riper years. With the 
" Alif Lila Va Lilin," or Arabian Nights' Entertainments, who is 
not acquainted ? It is, however, a subject of regret that we possess only 
a comparatively small part of these truly interesting fictions ; which 
are further valuable, not only as exhibiting a faithful picture of oriental 
manners during the splendour of the Khilafat, but also for the useful 
and instructive moral which they frequently inculcate. Nothing, it 

* For further remarks on the versification of Arabian Poetry, the reader is referred to Sir Wm. 
Jones, De Poesi Asiatica, cap. ii. (Works, vol. vi. pp. 22—59.) and Casiri, torn. i. pp. 86—88. 
f Sismondi, torn. i. pp. 60 — 62. 



238 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



has been justly observed, can be better written than the well-known 
tale of Alnaschar, to illustrate that important moral— the fatal conse- 
quence of not resisting our fancies.* 

Th is immense collection of tales is not only committed to writing, 
but also constitutes the sole riches of a very great number of story- 
tellers, of both sexes ; who, wherever Islamism holds its sway, gain 
their livelihood by relating their tales to public auditories, that wil- 
lingly bury their present cares in the pleasing dreams of the imagina- 
tion. In Asia, as in Africa, in the midst of their deserts, they assemble 
nightly in their tents, around the cheerful fire, listening to these stories 
with such attention and pleasure, as totally to forget the fatigues and 
hardships, with which, an instant before, they had been almost entirely 
overcome. t In the coffee-houses of the Levant, a story-teller will, to 
this day, convene a silent and deeply attentive auditory : sometimes he 
excites terror or pity ; more frequently he delights his hearers with 
brilliant fantastic visions ; sometimes he even provokes laughter ; and 
it is only on these occasions that the foreheads of the Moslems relax a 
little from their unbending gravity. The relation of tales constitutes 
the only public amusement of the Levant, and the story-tellers univer- 

* Harris's Philological Inquiries, Part III. ch. vii. p. 347. 8vo. edit The best English trans- 
lation of the Arabian Tales is that in 6 vols. 8vo. by Professor Scott. Dr. D . E. Clarke has given 
a curious list of one hundred and seventy-two Tales, contained in a MS. purchased by him in 
Egypt ; which are divided into one thousand and one nights, each tale being supposed to occupy 
many nights in the recital. This celebrated traveller subjoins a remark, that will sufficiently 
account for the comparatively small part of the Arabian Tales which we possess. " It rarely 
happens," says he, <e that any two copies of the Alif Lila va Lilin resemble each other. This 
title is bestowed on any collection of Eastern Tales, divided into the same number of parts. The 
compilation depends upon the taste, the caprice, and the opportunities of the scribe, or the com- 
mands of his employer. Certain popular tales are common to almost all copies of the Arabian 
Nights, but almost every selection contains some tales which are not to be found in any other. 
Much depends upon the locality of the scribe : and the popular stories of Egypt will be found to 
differ materially from those of Constantinople." Travels, vol. ii. pp. 701 — 704. 

+ Similar assemblies are, to this day, held among the aboriginal inhabitants of Ireland. Whole 
families frequently meet, during the winter, at each other's houses, or cabins, and listen to the 
Tales of other Times, which many of the old people relate with admirable address and effect. 
Harmer's Observations on various passages of Scripture, vol. iii. p. 221. note (4th edit ) 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



239 



sally supply the place of our comedians. But they are not confined to 
places of public resort : female narrators beguile the tedious leisure of 
the seraglios ; physicians, not unfrequently, direct their patients to send 
for story-tellers, to allay pain, to calm the agitated spirits, and to pro- 
duce sleep after long watchfulness : and, so well are these persons 
accustomed to the task, that they can modulate their voice, by lowering 
its tone, and gently suspending it, until at length they cause the pa- 
tient to fall fast asleep.* 

Allied to these interesting tales, are the fables of Lokman, an Arabian 
sage who is supposed to have been contemporary with David and So- 
lomon. His wisdom, together with the good sense and striking mo- 
rality of his fables, bear so great a resemblance to those of iEsop, that 
it is to this day a question, whether the latter did not derive his fables 
from an oriental source, if indeed iEsop and Lokman be not the same 
identical personages, which is highly probable. However this point 
may hereafter be determined, Lokman has ever been regarded in the 
east as an extraordinary character ; and in the thirty-first chapter of 
the Koran, which bears his name, Mahomet has represented the Al- 
mighty as saying, " We heretofore bestowed wisdom on Lokman." t 
Many are the marvellous tales recorded of this philosopher ; whose 
figure is said to have been exceedingly deformed, and who is further 
reported to have been in the very humble condition of a slave. £ 

Every branch of history was cultivated with great avidity by the 
Arabians : each Khalif had his respective historiographer ; and there is 
extant an immense number of universal histories, annals, and chronicles, 
besides histories of particular kingdoms, provinces, and towns. Many 
of the most valuable historians have already been noticed :§ and, in 
addition to these we may mention, among the writers of univer- 
sal history, the celebrated Abii-l-Feda, prince of Hamath in Syria ; 
among the authors of particular history, Lisanuddm Abu Abdillah 
Assalmany, usually called Ibnu-1 Khatib (and by modern writers 

* Sismondi, t. i. p. 65. f Sale's Koran, pp. 335, 336, and note (4to. edit.) 

| D'Herbelot, Bibliotheque Orientale, torn. ii. pp. 485 — 489. 
§ See Par* I. II. Chap. I. pp. 31 — 40, supra. 



240 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



Alkhatib) deserves a special notice, since our pages are indebted to 
his researches for many important facts. 

This illustrious writer was descended from a noble family, and was 
born A. H. 713. A. D. 1313. He was deeply versed in every branch 
of science, but excelled in the depth and accuracy of his knowledge of 
historical events. Promoted by the favour of several kings of Granada, 
he filled the highest offices for many years with great celebrity. To- 
wards the close of his life, however, he experienced a great reverse of 
fortune : having been accused of treason, he was thrown into prison by 
order of Ibnu-1 Ahmar, and was there put to death, A H. 776. A. D. 
1374 : leaving behind him numerous proofs of his learning and talents.* 
In the list of his works (forty-one in number, some of them, consisting 
of many volumes), scarcely any topic in the useful or elegant arts is 
left untouched. Rhetoric and poetry, the art of love and of medicine, 
the veterinary art, political economy and history, alike exercised his 
prolific pen. His historical works are deservedly admired ; and, accord- 
ing to the custom of the Arabs, they are distinguished by titles, which 
to the chastised ear of an European, sound not a little oddly. Thus, 
besides his Universal Library, of whose eleven parts (devoted to the 
biography of eminent Spanish-Arabian authors) five only remain, we 
have a History of Granada, intituled A Specimen of the full JWoon; 
his Chronology of the Khalifs and Kings of Africa and Spain, has the 
lofty appellation of the Silken Vest embroidered with the Needle ; his 
lives of eminent Spanish Arabs, who were celebrated for their learning 
and piety, are termed Fragrant Plants ; a tract on Constancy of .Mind 
is Approved Sutter; and, to mention no more, a treatise on the choice 
of sentences, is designated Pure C^old. 

Beside Ibnu-l-Khatib, many other persons wrote memoirs of men 
who were peculiarly distinguished for their virtues, talents, or brilliant 
achievements; and others, as Ebn Zaid Alarabi, of Cordova, and Abu-1- 
Monder, of Valencia, have seriously written the genealogy and history 
of celebrated horses, and Abu Zaid Abdulmalik, the history of illus- 

* Casiri, Bibliotheca Arabico-Escurialensis, t. ii. p. 72. Antonii Bibliotheca Hispana Vetus, 
torn. ii. p. 407- , 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



241 



trious camels.* This last-mentioned author, who was eminently versed 
in Arabian antiquities and usages, has rendered to his countrymen the 
same service which Moreri has bestowed on Europeans, by giving them 
a copious historical dictionary. Abdulmalik died in the 215th year of 
the Hijra (A. D. 830) during the reign of the Khalif Al-Mamun, by 
whom he was greatly esteemed. f The Arabians also possessed geo- 
graphical dictionaries, compiled with the greatest accuracy, critical and 
bibliographical dictionaries, and, in short, books of reference of every 
description, which facilitate labour, while they promote the researches 
of the curious. Numismatics^ and Chronology§ were not neglected 
by them. Each art and science had its respective historian : Al-Assaker 
wrote a history of the first inventors of the arts, a work (says Casiri) of 
great utility, and not unworthy the attention of any literary man.|| In 
common with the other sciences, Medicine and Philosophy also had 
their respective historians, all of which were condensed in the Encyclo- 
paedia, or Historical Dictionary of the Sciences of Muhammad-Abu- 
Abdallah, of Granada.^ 

In the theory and practice of Geography, the Arabians eminently 
excelled : and the Sharif Al-IdrlsT, who made the celebrated silver 
globe** for Roger II. King of Sicily, is justly celebrated for his 

* Casiri, torn, ii. p. 157- col. 1. f Ibid, p. 29. col, i. 

j A valuable MS. of Al-Makrizi is extant in the Escurial Library (Casiri, torn. ii. p. 173) on 
the History of the Arabian Money, whence it was published in Latin and Arabic, by Professor 
Tychsen, at Rostock, 1797, Svo. A French version also was published at Paris, an 5 (1797), in 
8vo. by M. Sacy. Al-Makrizi likewise wrote a Treatise on the Legal Weights and Measures 
of the Arabians, of which Sacy printed a French translation in 8 vo. Paris, an 7 (1799) ; and 
Tychsen, a Latin version at Rostock, in 1800, 8vo. with some additional various readings to the 
History of Arabian Money. For further particulars relative to these, and to almost every other 
work extant, relative to the Arabians, the reader will consult M. Schnurrer's Bibliotheca Arabica, 
Halae ad Salam, 1811, 8vo, which contains a treasure of Arabian Literature and Bibliography. 

§ Casiri, torn. ii. p. 155. col. i. \ Casiri, torn. ii. p. 1 7 1- col. 2. 

This elaborate work consisted of eleven parts, of which a fragment of the seventh, together 
with t . foui last parts, is all that is extant. Casiri has given an account of the author, and a 
copious abstract of bis very learned work, with its supplement, torn. ii. pp. 71 — 121. 

** The library at Cairo could boast of two massive globes, one of which was of brass, and had 

i i 



242 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



Geographical Amusements, which he wrote and dedicated to that mo- 
narch ; of this, however, only an abridgment, by an anonymous author, 
is unfortunately extant in print.* The geographical knowledge of the 
Arabians was further extended by the voyages made by their most 
learned men, for the express purpose of acquiring and diffusing know- 
ledge : Casiri has described not less than eighteen voyages or itinera- 
ries of illustrious Spanish Arabs, who travelled for this purpose. One 
of these, Ben Raschid Ben Ahmed Al-Nauschrissi, travelled through 
Africa, Egypt, and Syria, in the 673d year of the Hijra, for the purpose 
of hearing and conversing with the most eminent literati of those 
countries : in his Itinerary he has not only described the different 
places visited by him, but has also mentioned the most celebrated 
libraries and academies, and has further given some notices relative to 
the lives and writings of the learned men with whom he associated.! 

The science of Statistics did not escape the attention of a people, so 
acute and discerning as the Arabs were : accordingly we find, that, 
with the spirit of conquest, was combined a spirit of inquiry into the 
resources of the countries which yielded to their almost resistless arms. 
Although none of their writings on political economy have come down 
to our times (as far at least as our researches have enabled us to ascer- 
tain), yet that this science was familiar to some of the celebrated warriors 
who ruled in Spain, is a fact attested by undoubted authority. Among 
these, Assamhu-bn Malik Alkhaulany, (by modern writers miscalled El- 
zemagh) the third Viceroy of that country, is pre-eminently conspicuous.^ 

been constructed by the celebrated cosmographer, Ptolemy ; the other was of massive silver, 
weighing three thousand drachmae, and is said to have cost as many thousand golden crowns. It 
was made by Abilhassan Alsufi, for the Sultan Adadhaldaulat. Casiri, torn. i. p. 417. col. 2. 

* The principal geographical MSS. in the Escurial Library are described by Casiri, torn. ii. 
pp. i — 13. IdnsI was a native of Septa, in Africa, of noble descent, who studied and wrote at 
Cordova. His entire work is extant in MS. in the Bodleian Library at Oxford; the principal 
editions of the Anonymous Abridgment of it are described by Schnurrer, Biblioth. Arab. pp. 167 
— 172, and the Spanish Translation of his Description of Spain, with the Arabic text, in p. 17$» 

f Casiri. torn. ii. p. 151. col. 2. 

X Seethe transactions of his government briefly noticed, supra, p. 75. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



243 



The whole wisdom of the east, so far as it respects the improvements 
of productive industry, seems to have been present to his capacious 
mind. He had made himself acquainted with the various modes of 
agriculture practised with the most success, and particularly with the 
system of irrigation to which Assyria and other Eastern countries were 
indebted for their astonishing fertility : and the various manufactures 
carried on in those countries, were equally familiar to this great states- 
man. On his arrival in Spain, in order to transport these and other 
improvements thither, with the most advantage, he composed a statis- 
tical account of the country, the result of an actual survey, for the 
information of the Khalif Omar. In this work he described not only 
the different provinces and cities, together with their respective rivers, 
ports, and harbours ; but also examined and stated the climate of 
Spain, the various nature of its soils, its mountains, plants, and mi- 
nerals, and the manner in which the different productions they afforded 
might be reared or extracted, and applied to the greatest advantage. As- 
samh further prepared an exact account of the imposts which that coun- 
try paid to the Khalifs. A friend also to the fine arts, he embellished 
Cordova, the seat of his government, and invited learned men to his 
court. This consummate general and politician perished in Gaul, in a 
battle in which he was opposed by Eudes, Duke of Aquitaine, A. H. 
103. — A. D. 720 or 721* 

Although the Arabians cultivated polite literature with the greatest 
attention, they were not the less ardent in the study of philosophy, the 
mathematics, and all the other exact sciences. These, indeed, they 
derived chiefly from the Greeks, and by the aid of translations from the 
Greek writers, they made no inconsiderable progress in the study of 
philosophy. Among the most eminent of its professors, the following 
are particulary distinguished, Averroes of Cordova, who died A. D. 
1198, the great commentator on Aristotle ; Avicenna (Ebn Sina), who 
died A. D. 1037, and was equally celebrated as a profound philosopher 
and skilful physician ; Al-Farabi, who died A. D. 950 : he spoke 
seventy languages, wrote on all the sciences, and collected them into an 

* Casiri, t. ii. p. 137. col. 2. . Cardonne, torn. i. pp. 116 } 118, 



244 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



encyclopaedia ; Al-Gazali, who applied philosophy to the study of theo- 
logy, and died A. D. 1343 ; Ebn Tufail, the author of the celebrated 
and agreeable moral fiction of Hai Ebn Yokdhan, or the self-taught 
philosopher, who, being supposed to have been cast on a desert island 
while an infant, is made by various incidents (some possible, but all 
ingenious) to ascend gradually, as he grew up in solitude, to the sublime 
of all philosophy, — natural, moral, and divine ; and Alkindi, who flou- 
rished in the Khilafat of Al-Mamiin, in the beginning of the ninth 
century. He studied philosophy at Bassora, his native city, and ac- 
quired so much celebrity, both among his contemporaries and also in 
subsequent ages, that the loftiest titles were bestowed upon him. He 
was called the phoenix of his age, the philosopher of the Arabians, the 
great astrologer, the learned physician, the root and foundation of the 
Arabic sciences, in his time ; and Cardan ranks him among the first 
twelve sublime spirits of the world. Though some, at least, of these 
encomiastic appellations are extravagant, Alkindi was endowed with 
rare talents, and the catalogue of his works, not less than two hundred 
in number, shews that he was versed in all the learning of the Greeks, 
Persians, and Indians, in all the branches of philosophy, and the ma- 
thematics. In philosophy he was a follower of Aristotle, and in the 
schools interpreted and illustrated his writings.* 

* Of all the Arabian philosophers above-mentioned, Casiri has given interesting memoirs from 
Arabian sources. Brueker, Hist. Crit. Philos. vol iii. pp. 1-240, has given a copious account of 
the Saracenic philosophers and their notions, from whom Dr. Enfield has abridged his elegant 
narrative, Hist, of Philos. vol. ii. pp. 224-265. Among the treatises of Alkindi, was one recom- 
mending the study of philosophy, and another to shew that it was in vain for any one to indulge 
the hope of acquiring it without the study of the mathematics. The following anecdote, recorded 
of him by Abu'l Faragius, is too honourable to his character to be omitted. Alkindi having, in 
the course of his instructions at Baghdad, endeavoured to explain the doctrines of Muhammad in 
a sense consistent with the principles of philosophy, gave great offence to Abu-Maashar, an igno- 
rant and bigoted advocate for the vulgar interpretation of the Koran ; who, with strong expressions 
of indignation, accused him to the Khalif of impiety. Instead of employing his interest with the 
Khalif, in forcibly restraining the angry petulance and malignity of this angry zealot, Al-Kindi 
generously attempted to subdue his resentment, by enlightening his understanding. Well know- 
ing the power of wisdom to meliorate the temper, he found means to engage a preceptor to instruct 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



245 



But the Arabian literati did not confine their attention to those stu- 
dies merely, which they could prosecute in the closet ; they undertook 
long and laborious voyages, for the acquisition and diffusion of know- 
ledge ; they frequently were the counsellors of princes, and in conse- 
quence were often involved in those violent and almost uniformly cruel 
revolutions, which too often occurred in the east, and latterly in Spain : 
their private history, therefore, is more varied, more eventful, and more 
romantic, than that of the philosophers and learned men of every other 
nation.* 

Of all the sciences cultivated by the Arabs, philosophy is that which 
spread most rapidly in the west, and which had the greatest influence 
on the European schools ; but it is also that in which their progress, 
though confessedly considerable, was more specious than real. Their 
ardour, however, was ill-directed, and instead of the dreary waste in 
which they chose to expatiate, they might have visited regions teeming 
with flowers and fruits. More ingenious than profound, — more de- 
sirous of astonishing than of instructing, — they postponed the important 
science of ethics to logic, and sacrificed it to metaphysics. Hence, 
though they were neither unacquainted with Plato, nor insensible to 
the merits of his works, which they highly applauded, Aristotle became 
their exclusive favourite, and received from them an intellectual homage, 
that was almost divine. It was, indeed, barely possible that they should 
relish Plato, whose beauties were impervious to all eyes that were not 
familiarized to the poetry, history, and mythology of Greece : but the 
naked sense of the Peripatetic met their ideas more directly ; his dia- 
lectics were admirable aids to argumentation ; his metaphysics were 
calculated to exercise a keen and vigorous intellect ; and even in his 
physics, whether considered as a history or as a system of nature, they 
found nothing repugnant to their prejudices, or their theological creed. 

him first in mathematics, and afterwards in philosophy. The ferocity of the zealot was subdued ; 
and Abu-Maashar, ashamed of his folly, and convinced of the superior merit of the man whom he 
had persecuted, became his convert and disciple, and was an ornament to his school. Abu'l 
Faragius, Dyn. IX. Enfield, vol. ii. p. 238. 
* Sismondi, t. i. p. 68. 



246 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



Further, when in progress of time heresies and schisms increased, and 
alarmed the faithful, his influence became still more widely extended : 
and his assistance, whether in attack or defence, was acknowledged and 
applied by all parties. His ascendancy was paramount and universal ; 
and, in the opinion of the Arabians, philosophy was only to be found 
in his writings, by which alone metaphysics could be explained. An 
accurate version, or a subtle explanation of some work of the Stagyrite, 
appeared to be the highest possible degree to which the genius of the 
philosophers could attain ; and with this view, they read, explained 
and compared, all the commentaries of the first disciples of Aristotle : 
but what is most singular, is, that with all their subtlety, with all their 
study, with so many aids, and after so many years of painful applica- 
tion, the Arabian sages could never fully comprehend, nor explain with 
precision, the very books which formed the subject of all their labours. 
Aristotle was misunderstood, and sometimes grossly, by all of them : 
even Averroes, who is allowed to have been one of his most successful 
commentators and translators, has frequently no connexion with his 
original.* 



* Andres, tom. ii. pp. 40-45. Introd.to Lit. Hist, of 14th and 15th Cent. pp. 98-99. 



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247 



SECTION II. 

ON THE SCIENCES CULTIVATED BY THE ARABIANS. 



The natural Sciences cultivated — Botany — Medicine — Pharmacy — Anatomy and 
Chirurgery — Chemistry — Alchemy — The Mathematical Sciences — Arithmetic 
— Algebra — Geometry — Trigonometry — Astronomy — Astronomical Observations 
made by the Arabians — Astrology — Oeomancy — Optics — Mechanics — Hydro- 
statics — Jurisprudence — and Theology. 

T h e natural sciences were cultivated by the Arabians with great 
success, and with a more just appreciation of the steps necessary to be 
taken, in order to acquire them. Ibn Khadi Schiaba, Abu Othman, 
and some others, wrote on the natural history of animals ; Abilrihan 
Albiruni (who died A. D. 941) travelled through India for the space of 
forty years, to observe the nature and properties of things ; and has 
given the result of his observations in a rare and exceedingly valuable 
treatise on precious stones.* 

The knowledge of botany was considerably advanced beyond the 
state in which it had been left by Dioscorides. Razes, Ali Ben Al 
Abbas, and Avicenna, respectively applied themselves to the study of 
this elegant and useful science ; but the most distinguished of all the 
Arabian botanists was Ibn al Beithar, a native of Malaga, who has not 
inaptly been termed the Tournefort of the Arabs. In his zeal for the 
acquisition of botanical information, he travelled over every part of 
Europe, Africa, and Asia, inspected and touched every thing that was 
rare, curious, or valuable, in the three kingdoms of nature ; and returned 
home, enriched with the spoils of the east and west. He published 

* Casiri, torn. i. p. 326, col. 1, 2. 



248 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



three books, — on the nature and virtues of plants — on metals and mi- 
nerals — and on animals ; he died A. D. 1248, at Damascus, having 
been elevated to the dignity of Vizir by the then sovereign of that 
city.* 

The healing art was cultivated with the greatest attention, and con- 
tinued to flourish from the time of Harun Arrashid. The names of 
Baktishua, and his son Gabriel, of Avicenna, of Mohammed Al-Rasi, 
better known by the appellation of Razes, of John Ebn Mesue, and his 
pupil Honain, are all eminently celebrated for their skill in medicine. 
Ebn Mesue, though a Christian, was highly honoured and trusted by 
the above-mentioned Khalif, to whose person he was greatly attached : 
he composed numerous works, many he translated from the Greek, and 
was the first professor in the celebrated school of Baghdad, which in 
after times produced so many eminently learned men. Though in- 
debted to the Greeks for much of their medical knowledge, the Arabians 
did not servilely follow their masters in every respect, but greatly im- 
proved several branches of this science. To them we owe the first ap- 
plication of chemistry to medicine, though it is not clear who was the 
real author of this valuable association, some ascribing it to Avicenna, 
while others attribute it to Razes. The value and extent of the medical 
discoveries of the Arabians have been as mudh depreciated by some 
writers, as they have been exaggerated by others : it must, however, be 
allowed, that they improved the knowledge of symptoms, and from 
them we have derived the first method of treating the small-pox and 
measles, the abscess of the mediastinum, and difficulty of deglutition. 
Their most material improvement in the healing art, was the introduc- 
tion of lenitive medicines, in the place of drastic purgatives, which had 
been too freely employed by the Greeks ; and, notwithstanding the 

* Casiri, torn. i. pp. 275-279- Casiri also mentions another eminent and adventurous botanist, 
Mohammed Ben Ali Ben Phara, a celebrated physician of Corella ; who regarded no difficulties 
in his favourite pursuit of botanizing, and who collecte ! specimens of every plant he saw. He 
was appointed curator of the botanical garden of the King Muhammad Abu Abdillah Ben Nasr. 
Casiri, torn. i. p. .89, col. 1. A connected account of the Arabian writers on Botany may be seen 
in Haller's Bibliotheca Botanica, torn. i. pp. 171-212. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



249 



servility with which they followed the latter, the writings of Razes, 
Avicenna, and Averroes, it must be confessed, do contain many im- 
portant observations, useful methods of treating diseases, and formulae 
of new and valuable medicines.* 

Pharmacy was an object of peculiar attention, and is greatly indebted 
to the persevering researches of Abdelinalek Ebn Zohr, a native of Se- 
ville, better known by the name of Avenzoar ; who particularly applied 
himself to antidotes and electuaries, and who first introduced the bezoar 
to notice among the curative drugs, to which he gives an origin truly 
marvellous, f The Arabians have the credit of having set the first 
example of publishing pharmacopoeias, or regular dispensatories, con- 
taining collections of authorized formulae. The shops of the Arabian 
apothecaries were placed under the immediate superintendance of the 
magistrates ; who took care that they should be provided with genuine 
drugs, and that these should be sold at a reasonable price. Many of the 
pharmaceutical terms still employed are of Arabian origin, as naphtha, 
camphor, syrup, julep, &c. &c.$ 

In anatomy and chirurgery, the Arabians never obtained any re- 
markable proficiency : the theory and practice of their religion prohi- 
bited them from attempting dissections ; and the polluting touch of the 
dead alarmed the most determined naturalists, who contented them- 
selves with following the system of Galen. Khalaf-Ben- Abbas Abul- 
cassem, or Al-Zaharavi, better known by the name of Abulcasis, is the 
most eminent of the Arabian surgeons. He was a native of Cordova 
(where he died in the yearof the Hijra500), and practised the two sciences 
of medicine and chirurgery with distinguished success. He has treated 
of the various instruments proper for performing chirurgical operations, 

* Andres, torn. ii. pp. 55-62. Freind Hist, of Medicine, vol. ii. pp. 70, &c. Haller has given 
a detailed account of the principal Arabian writers on Medicine, in his Bibliotheca Medicinae, 
torn. i. pp. 333-422. 

+ Casiri, torn. ii. p. 132, col. 2. Avenzoar describes the bezoar as generated from the tears, 
or gum, of the eyes of stags ; who, after eating serpents, were accustomed to run into the water 
up to the nose, where they stood till a humour began to ooze from their eyes ; which, collecting 
under the eye-lids, gradually thickened and coagulated, and, when it became quite hard, was thrown 
off by the animal rubbing itself against the trees ! 

I Rees's Cyclopaedia, art. Medicine. Beckmann's Hist, of Inventions, vol. ii, p. 127. 

k k 



250 THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



and has described the moxa, a remedy employed in the east for the cure 
of the gout, under the appellation of the Arabian burning. This author 
has further written in detail on the various tumours incident to the 
human body, and has pointed out their proper treatment. The reader 
is startled while he peruses an account of the bold chirurgical opera- 
tions, attempted at that time.* 

The praise of originality, however, is justly due to the Arabs for 
their discoveries in the science of chemistry, of which they may be con- 
sidered as the inventors. In the east, we know that some attempts 
had been made, from the earliest periods, in the refining of metals, the 
communication of brilliant colours to woollen stuffs, the preparation 
of essences and perfumes, and the tanning of leather ; but no collection 
of scientific observations or facts had been embodied, or transmitted in 
such a form, as to prove beneficial to the useful arts. Struck with the 
result of some investigations, the Arabians first applied themselves to 
chemistry as a regular study ; under their hands, a rapid and correct 
analysis, together with a skilful and ready decomposition, performed by 
instruments of the happiest contrivance, mark them as masters of this 
important science. They addicted themselves to it with unwearied 
assiduity : new discoveries were daily made by the numerous experi- 
ments, instituted and conducted by Geber, Mesue, Razes, and others 
of the most eminent physicians, who left behind them a great accumu- 
laton of most valuable knowledge. By them, great improvements were 
made in the mode of conducting processes, particularly distillations : 
the three mineral acids were discovered ; the vegetable and mineral 
alkalies were distinguished from each other ; the preparation of alcohol 
was made known ; and, though the Arabs in all probability derived 
their knowledge of gunpowder from the Indians, yet they improved its 
preparation, and found out different ways of employing it in war.f The 

* Casiri, torn. ii. p. 137, col. I. Roujoux, Revolutions des Sciences, &c. torn. ii. p. j. Sir 
W. Temple has an interesting essay on the cure of the gout by moxa. Works, vol. iii. pp. 238- 
265. 8vo. edit. 

t Beckmann's Hist, of Inventions, vol. iv. p. 572, 573. The whole of the paper on salt-pelre, 
&c. in that volume is highly curious, and contains many incidental illustrations of the history of 
Arabian chemistry. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



251 



early nomenclature of chemistry demonstrates how much it owes to the 
Arabians : the words, alcohol, alembic, alkahest, alkali, aludel — to 
mention no more — require no comment ; nor should it be forgotten, 
that those characters of drugs, essences, extracts, and medicines, which 
are frequently to be found in the apothecaries' shops, and which to vul- 
gar eyes appear vested with occult powers of healing, — are all derived 
from the Arabians. 

Their chemical knowledge, however, was often misapplied and per- 
verted : the endless search after the philosopher's stone, or the produc- 
tion of a substance capable of converting all other metals into gold, 
occupied and disgraced, while it eluded, the chemist's labours. Nor 
had the transmutation of metals alone its aspirants : the elixir of life, 
the dream of an immortal existence upon earth, — the repulsion of evil, 
and the attainment of good, — these, and numerous other magical 
fooleries, may fairly be charged on the abuse of chemistry. For many 
centuries, the visionary study of alchemy continued to be ardently fol- 
lowed : it was, however attended with this incidental advantage, that 
a considerable dexterity of operating was acquired, and many new 
substances were discovered ; which, without some such strong incentive, 
would perhaps, have remained much longer in obscurity. 

Brucker has asserted, that the Arabians were indebted to the Greeks 
for their mathematical knowledge ; and that this science made no 
progress whatever in their hands.* Mathematicians of later times, 
however, have done ample justice to their researches in this most im- 
portant of all the departments of science ; f and, in reviewing the 
principal branches of mathematical learning, we shall find occasion to 
admire their genius in invention, or their address in improvement. 

Their arithmetic they acknowledge to have received from the Indians, 
and many of their treatises on this subject are intituled, "the art of 
computing according to the Indians," ■" Indian arithmetic/' &c. 
Nevertheless, they have the merit of having perceived, adopted, and 
developed all the advantages of that ingenious system of numeration ; 

* Hist. Crit. Phil. torn. iii. p. 155. 

f See particularly Montucla, Hist, de Mathematiques, vol. i. p. 362, et seq. 



252 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



and to the persevering industry of Gerbert (afterwards Pope Sylvester II.),, 
western Europe is indebted for the knowledge and use of figures. 

By whom the science of algebra was invented, is a question yet un- 
decided : it appears to have been not wholly unknown to the ancient 
mathematicians, who flourished long before the time of Diophantus, its 
reputed discoverer ; and traces of it are to be found in Theon's com- 
mentary upon Euclid, who observes that Plato had begun to teach it, 
and also in the writings of Pappus, Archimedes, and Apollonius. The 
oldest treatise extant is that of Diophantus, to whom the Arabians ac- 
knowledge themselves indebted for this science ; * and whose writings 
were early translated and circulated among them. By this author, 
algebra was confined to a single class of questions relative to square and 
cube numbers, and other curious properties of numbers, with their so- 
lutions : the Arabians extended its application, and generalized its use; 
and, in estimating their merits, it might perhaps be determined, that 
their advances on the original are, at least, as conspicuous as the im- 
provements which have been suggested, and the progress which has 
been made, by later, and even by modern proficients. Thebit-Ben 
Corrah, and Mohammed Ben Musa, are the most ancient Arabian ma- 
thematicians who have treated on this science : the former wrote on 
the certainty of the demonstrations of the algebraic calculus, and the 
latter is reputed to be the inventor of the solution of equations of the 
second degree, and first communicated the knowlege of algebra to the 
Arabians. f Their progress in this abstruse branch of pure mathematics 
is further evinced by the treatise of Omar-Ben-Ibrahim, on the algebra 
of cubic equations, which is still extant in MS. in the University Li- 
brary of Leyden. Even the muse disdained not to sing the wonders, 
and to deliver the first principles of the science, in verse : and in the 
library of the Escurial there is preserved a poem on this subject by 
Mohammed Ben Alcassem, a native of Granada. J 

* Casiri, torn. i. p. 370, col. 2. 

f Casiri, torn. i. p. 371, col. 1. p. . In the same volume, pp. 386-389, he has given an in- 
teresting account of the life and writings of Thebit, both mathematical and philosophical. 
I Casjri, torn. i. p. 370, col. 1. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



253 



In Geometry, the pretensions of the Arabians, though not equally 
striking, are nevertheless highly respectable : under the reign of the 
Khalif Almamun, the works of the most eminent Greek geometri- 
cians were translated into their language, particularly Euclid, Theo- 
dosius, Hypsicles, Menelaus,* and the four first books of Apollonius ; 
and, some years after, Thebit Ben Corrah enriched the science of his 
country with versions of Archimedes and the Conies of Apollonius. 
Many eminent geometricians arose among the Arabians, who explained 
and commented upon the works of their Grecian masters with great 
ability : but they do not appear to have left behind them any treatises 
of importance ; and this branch of mathematical science is said to have 
been revived, in the fifteenth century, nearly in the state in which it 
had been left by Euclid. How highly mathematical science was va- 
lued by Almamun, we may conceive from his liberal but fruitless 
offers to engage in his service the celebrated mathematician Leo, after- 
wards archbishop of Thessalonica. The Khalif having been apprised 
of his singular talents, first wrote him a letter, full of expressions of 
esteem and friendship : as this, however, produced no effect on the 
philosopher, and the Emperor Theophilus being apprised also of his 
extraordinary qualities, retained Leo in his own service, Almamun sent 
an ambassador to the Greek emperor, offering him one hundred pounds 
weight of gold to induce him to grant Leo permission to travel through 
Egypt, and promising to send him back at no long time afterwards. 
But all these efforts on the part of the Khalif were unsuccessful. f 

Trigonometry, however, is under peculiar obligations to the Arabians, 
who imparted to it that form which it still retains : they substituted 

* Casiri, torn. i. p. 345, col. 1. 

f Cedreni Compendium, torn. ii. p. 431 (edit. Venet. 1729.) The Greek Emperor, more con- 
vinced than ever of the merit of Leo, retained him in his service by accumulating upon him both 
honours and favours, and ultimately raised him to the hierarchy of Thessalonica, in order t6"~fix 
his residence in the empire. It is but just to the memory of Leo, to state, that he devoted his 
whole time and influence in causing the sciences and fine arts to re -flourish at Constantinople, 
where he established schools for the mathematics ; and that, notwithstanding the important affairs, 
which retained him at the court of Theophilus, he continued to give public lectures, until he was 
raised to the episcopal dignity. Ibid. pp. 431 432. 



254 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



the use of sines for that of the chord which had laboriously been em- 
ployed by the ancients. These improvements are, by Montucla, ascribed 
to Mohammed Ben Miisa, who composed a work on spherical trigono- 
metry, and to Mohammed Giaber Ben Aflah, a native of Seville, whose 
treatise on the sphere, is extant in the library of the Escurial.* Alkindi, 
for his various and profound attainments, surnamed " the philosopher,'" 
wrote a treatise De sex Quantitatibus, and translated the work of Au- 
tolycus De Sphcerd motd. Mohammed Al-Baghdadi left a very elegant 
treatise on land surveying, which is strongly suspected to be only a copy 
of a lost treatise of Euclid's on that subject. 

From the scriptures we learn that astronomy was cultivated by the 
Arabians at a very early period ; f and we know, generally, that their 
acquaintance with the stars was such, as enabled them to foretel the 
changes of the weather, and was obtained, not from any regular study or 
astronomical rules, but from long and patient observation. The Arabians, 
as well as the Indians, applied themselves to observe the fixed stars, 
contrary to the practice of other nations, whose observations were almost 
exclusively confined to the planets ; and they foretold their effects from 
their influences, not from their nature. They do not appear to have 
made much further progress in astronomy, which they afterwards cul- 
tivated with so much success, than to observe the influence of the stars 
upon the weather, and to give them names, — a science more obvious 
and natural to them, who led a pastoral life, passing both night and 
day in the open plains. The names which they bestowed on the stars, 
generally alluded to cattle and flocks ; and so minute were they in dis- 
tinguishing them, that no language has so many names of stars and 
asterisms as the Arabic. But the reign of the Khalif Almamiin was 
the most flourishing period of Arabian astronomy : himself devoted to 
the study of this science, he ordered a translation to be made of the 
works of Ptolemy, and caused a complete digest of astronomy to be 
composed by eminent men. Having obtained proper instruments, he 
made many accurate observations ; and, among others determined the 

* Montucla, Hist, de Math. torn. i. P. 2, liv. 1, pp. 372-373. Casiri, torn. i. p. 345, col. 1. 
-J- Job, ch. ix. v. 9, and xxxviii. v. 31. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN 



255 



obliquity of the ecliptic to be 23° 33' (in some MSS. it is said to be 23° 35'). 
Under his auspices, also, a degree of the meridian was measured a se- 
cond time, in the plain of Sinjar, on the borders of the Red Sea. 

Among the Arabian astronomers, who particularly distinguished 
themselves by their accurate observations, were Mohammed BenMusa, 
already noticed, who drew up some astronomical tables ; Abdallah-Ibn- 
Sahal, Jahia-Ibn-Abi-Mansur,* also the author of some astronomical 
tables ; Albumasar, who wrote an introduction to astronomy, a treatise 
on the conjunction of the planets, and another on the origin, duration, 
and end of the world ; Abdallah-Ebn-Masrur, a pupil of Albumasar' s ;f 
Alfraganus, or Al-Fergani, who composed a classical work, intituled 
" Elements of Astronomy," which presents a concise exposition of 
Ptolemy's Almagest, and was likewise the author of a treatise on solar 
clocks, and on the astrolabe. Albategni is another Arabian, whose 
laborious researches conferred the highest services on astronomy. He 
gave a new and improved theory of the sun, from which he derived re- 
sults that are much valued for their accuracy ; and above all, as they 
directly confirm the diminution of the eccentricity of the solar orbit, 
which has since been demonstrated by the theory of gravity, and the 
secular equation of the moon. He supplied the defects of the Ptolemean 
tables by the construction of new astronomical tables ; and his work on 
" The Science of the Stars," which is still extant, long held a very high 
place among the treatises on this science. Thebit-Ben-Corrah, already 
mentioned, observed the declination of the ecliptic, distinguished the 
motion of the apogee of the sun and planets, from that of the stars in 
longitude, and, what is most important of all, ascertained that the solar 
revolution was completed in 365 days, six hours, nine minutes, and 
twelve seconds of time, which calculation exactly corresponds with that 
now in use. In later times, Arzachel, or Arzakel, the reputed author 
of the Toledan Tables, who flourished about the year 1080, and Alhazen, 
who lived in the early part of the twelfth century, conferred great be- 
nefits on astronomy ; the latter, as being the first who discovered the 
importance of the theory of refractions in that science ; and the former, 

* Casiri, torn. i. p. 425, col. 1 3 2, and p. 364, col. 2. f Ibid. 403, col. 1, 2. 



256 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



by his hypothesis, to account for the diminution of the sun's eccentricity, 
which to him appeared to have taken place since the time of Ptolemy, 
and the motion of the sun's apogee. This hypothesis of Arzachel's 
consisted in making the centre of the circle, described by the sun, move 
within another small circle, by means of which the centre of the orbit 
might periodically approach to, and retire from, the earth. His idea, 
for thus explaining the inequalities which he thought he perceived in 
the sun, was adopted by Copernicus, and subsequently applied to the 
moon by Horoccius, Newton, Flamsteed, and Halley.* Modern as- 
tronomy certainly is indebted to the Arabians for the introduction of 
observatories : and the Girada, or lofty tower, appended to the cathedral 
of Seville as a belfry, was originally an observatory, erected A. H. 
593 — A. D. 1196, by the celebrated mathematician Geber.f In append- 
ing this structure to the mosque, he probably had in view, and might 
designedly imitate the institutions of the ancient Sabseans ; who, uniting 
the profession of astronomy with the priestly office, placed their obser- 
vatories contiguous to their temples ; in order that they might the more 
conveniently pass from the contemplation of the celestial bodies to the 
altar, and from the adoration of the host of heaven, to the worship of 
Him, who called them into existence. 

Astrology seems to have been cultivated with the same zeal as as- 
tronomy: among the Arabians, as in other eastern nations, the truths 
of science could be recommended only by ignorance and folly ; and 
the astronomer would have been disregarded, had he not debased his 
honesty by the vain predictions of astrology. Its professors were seen 
in the courts, and consulted in the cabinets of princes: and no public 
or even private enterprise of moment was undertaken, without previously 
consulting the stars.$ The arts of divination by arrows, § of geomancy, 

* Lalande,Astronomie,tom.i.pp. 120-127. f See a brief notice of this structure, supra p. 204. 

% Casiri has given the titles of some celebrated astrological works, Bibl. Arabico E^curia!, t. i. 
pp. 362, 363, 371, col. 2, and 400, col. 1. Some anecdotes relative to Arabian astrologers, are 
related by Mr. Harris, Philolog. Inquiries, pp. 383-385. 

§ This art was thus performed by the ancient Arabs : when any person was about to undertake 
an important enterprise, he put three arrows into a vessel, on one of which was written " My God 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN, 



257 



or divination by the casting of figures, of oneirocriticism,* or the inter- 
pretation of dreams, likewise had their respective professors. 

With optics, antiquity was but little conversant : yet, though the 
schools of Baghdad and Cordova did not greatly extend this science, 
they nevertheless did not neglect its study. The works of Al Farabi, 
who flourished in the ninth, and of Ebn Haithem, who lived in the 
tenth century of the Christian sera, are lost : the only writer who treated 
on optics was Alhazen, who wrote in the 12th century, and whose work 
is well deserving of attention. The astronomical refraction known to 
the Greeks has been very clearly explained by him ; and his labours 
have been a guide to subsequent writers. Vitellio, a native of Poland, 
illustrated Alhazen's optics in a treatise published A. D. 1270 ; and it 
is well known that our eminent philosopher, Roger Bacon, was indebted 
to the Arabians for the whole of his mathematical and philosophical 
knowledge. t 

That the ancient Arabs had some knowledge of the mechanical arts, 
appears from Strabo ; who relates that the people of Tamna had mag- 
nificent temples, and elegant houses erected in the Egyptian style. $ 
Of their subsequent progress for many centuries we have no certain 
information : but, of their practical skill in mechanics during their 
dominion in Spain, the remains of Arabian Art still subsisting in the 
peninsula, afford abundant evidence ; and the invention of the pendu- 
lum for the measurement of time is unquestionably due to the Arabs. § 
Although they applied their mathematical knowledge to hydrostatical 
studies, yet no discovery of their' s has been transmitted to us : the 

hath commanded" — on the other, " My God hath forbidden and on the third was nothing. 
If the first were drawn out, the individual prosecuted his design, which was abandoned if he drew 
out the second ; and if the third came forth, he continued to draw on until one of tlie former was 
drawn. This circumstance, it may be incidentally observed, will explain the divination of the 
King of Babylon, who is said by the prophet Ezekiel to have tf made his arroivs bright" or to 
have mingled them, as the passage is rendered in the Vulgate Version. — Pococke's Specimen Hist. 
Arab. pp. 327 — 329. * Casiri, torn. i. p. 363. col. 1. and p. 401. col. 2. 

-f- Andres, torn. xi. pp. 17, 172. Beckmann's Hist, of Inventions, vol. Hi. pp. 194 — 197- 

J Lib. xvi. torn. ii. p. 1092. (ed. Oxon). 

§ Transactions of the Royal Society, vol. xiv. p. 567. Andres, t. ii. p. 226, 227- 

l1 



2.58 THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



titles, however, of two works,* by the celebrated Al-kindi, mentioned 
in the Arabic library of philosophers, prove that the Arabians not only 
attended to the practical part of the science in forming their useful 
canals, but also that they devoted themselves to the theory of hydro- 
statics. 

In concluding this sketch of Arabian literature and science, it only 
remains, that we notice their jurisprudence and theology, kindred stu- 
dies, founded on one common source, the Koran, and which were not 
unfrequently pursued together. The heads of government, persons 
who were most distinguished by their rank, dignity, or opulence, re- 
spectively applied themselves to these sciences. The Khalif Harun Ar- 
rashld was a pupil of the celebrated Asmai;t and Ebn Cossa was the 
preceptor of Almamun. The Koran being both the source of Mil sal- 
man theology, as well as the foundation of all laws, both civil and 
ecclesiastical, it was not uncommon for lawyers to write on theological 
questions: thus Asmai wrote a work, intituled, The Principles of 
Scholastic Theology, Al-Shafei, or Al-Shafi, declared against the 
scholastics and was the founder of the existing sect of the Sonnites : he 
was the first who reduced the civil law of the Moslems into a science, 
in his work on the Principles of Islamism, which discusses both the 
civil and the canon law of the Muhammadans.J 

The two leading sects, at present existing among the followers of the 
Arabian prophet, are the Shiites and the Sonnites, who are further 
divided into other sects or schools : of their tenets, Sale has given a 
detailed account ;§ the Library of the Escurial comprises many works 

* One of these treatises is, on Bodies that float on water ; the other, on Bodies that sink. 
Casiri, torn. i. p. 356. col. 2. 
f D'Herbelot, torn. i. p. 269. 

X Ibid. torn. hi. p. 224. There was a celebrated Academy at Granada, instituted for the sole 
purpose of interpreting, reciting, and explaining the Koran. Its founder was Abdallah Ben Jahia 
Ben Abd Soliman Abu Al Cassern, better known by the name of Ebn Alrabi, an eminent philoso- 
pher and lawyer of his time : he presided over the schools of Munda, Ronda, Malaga, and Gra- 
nada, and died A. H. 666. A. D. 1267- Casiri, torn. ii. p. 101. col. 1. 

§ Sale's Koran, vol. i. pp. 201 — 237, 8vo. or pp. 158—178 of the 4to. edition. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



259 



treating on ascetic and mystic theology, while others contain monastic 
rules. The catalogue of Musalman divines and jurists is so exten- 
sive, that the mere enumeration of their names would augment this 
portion of our work to an undue length : for particulars relative to their 
lives and writings, the reader is therefore referred to the elaborate pub- 
lications of D'Herbelot and Casiri.* 

* Casiri, torn. i. pp. 444 — 544, has a long and curious account of the writers on Mohammedan 
jurisprudence and theology, now extant in the library of the Escurial. 



260 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



CHAPTER IL 

ON THE ARTS, MANUFACTURES, AND COMMERCE OF THE ARABIANS. 



SECTION I. 

ON THE USEFUL ARTS, MANUFACTURES, AND COMMERCE OF THE 

ARABIANS. 

Agriculture and Horticulture — Mines — Metallurgy — Manufactures — Potteries — 
Manufactures of Leather, Gunpowder, Sugar, and Paper — Ancient Commerce 
of the Arabians-* Commerce of the Spanish Arabs — Money, Weights, and 
Measures used in Commerce. 

The fate of the Arts is inseparably connected with that of the 
Sciences and of Literature ; and where these are not fostered, the for- 
mer never flourish. The preceding pages have shewn, with what avidity 
both letters, and the sciences were cultivated by the Arabians, par- 
ticularly chemistry ; which science, while it gave them a deeper know- 
ledge of the works of nature than had ever been possessed by the Greeks 
and Romans, also received from them very extensive and useful applica- 
tions to all the necessary arts of life. Agriculture, in particular, was 
studied by them with that perfect knowledge of climate, soil, and the 
rearing of plants and cattle, which alone could enable them to embody 
in a scientific form the results of long and extensive practice. No 
civilized nation of Europe, Asia, or Africa, ancient or modern, ever 
possessed a code of rural laws, more wise, more just, or more perfect 
than the Spanish Arabs : nor has any country ever been raised to a 
higher degree of agricultural prosperity, than Moorish Spain, from the 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



261 



wisdom of its laws, and the intelligence and activity of its inhabitants. 
The kingdom of Granada flourished pre-eminently. Abdurrahman III* 
the greatest of all the western Khalifs, derived part of his immense 
revenues from the imposts levied on the productions of the soil, and was 
possessed of all the most valuable and beautiful districts in Spain. 
Within his dominions were reckoned eighty principal cities, three hun- 
dred of an inferior class, and an immense number of smaller towns and 
villages. Cordova contained within its walls two hundred thousand 
houses, occupied by as many distinct families, and nine hundred public 
baths. How reversed is this picture of opulence and industry, since the 
expulsion of the Moors ! The cause of this is obvious. — The Moors, 
when they conquered the Spaniards, persecuted not the vanquished : 
the Spaniards, on the contrary, when they subdued the Moors, not only 
persecuted, but expelled them. This unprincipled conduct brought its 
own punishment : the deficiency of the Moors was so severely felt, that 
farmers and artisans were invited from foreign countries, in the reign 
of Philip IV. A. D. 1623, to settle in Spain. But this scheme proved 
ineffectual ; and the continual wars, which have since engaged the 
attention of the Spanish government, while they exhausted its treasures, 
have prevented the ideas of re-peopling that country, and restoring its 
agriculture, from being realized.* 

From the narratives of modern travellers in Spain, we learn that 
numerous vestiges of Arabian agriculture are still to be met with in the 
peninsula-! From these, and from an Arabic treatise still preserved 
in the library of the Escurial, we may form some idea of the attention 
bestowed by the Spanish Arabs on this most important part of rural 
economy. From the latter especially it appears, that they were well 
acquainted with the nature and properties of soils, and the proper adap- 
tation of crops to them ; the nature and different kinds of manures, and 
the application of these to particular species of trees, plants, &c. dis- 
tinguishing the beneficial from the noxious ; their manure was carefully 

* Campomanes, Educacion Popular, Part III. torn. Hi. p. xxix. 

t See particularly Jacob's Travels in the South of Spain, pp. 147, 151, 152, 244, 250, 251, 
275, 276, 299—301. 



262 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



preserved in pits, that none of the salts might be lost, and was liberally 
spread over their fields. Irrigation was sedulously attended to : and the 
streams, which descended from the mountains were diverted into thou- 
sands of channels to fertilize the soil. The formation of gardens, 
arrangement of plants, and choice of soil, adapted to each, were also 
studied with great care : and the Spaniards are indebted to the Moors 
for the introduction of rice, the sugar cane,* the cotton tree, saffron, 
spinach, f and that infinite variety of fine fruits, which are now consi- 
dered as almost indigenous in the peninsula, whence the use and culture 
of many of them have gradually been dispersed throughout Europe. $ 
That this general eulogy on the agriculture of the Arabians in Spain 
is not exaggerated, will readily appear from the following view of its 
operations : 

In the cultivation of their lands, the Spanish Arabs at first followed 
the system of Kutsami, author of the Nabathaean agriculture, and after- 
wards availed themselves of the instructions contained in the works of 
Abu Omar, Ebn Hajai, Rasis, Abu Abdallah, and others, especially 
Abu Zacharia.§ If we examine all the various productions, which the 

* M. La Borde has cited several ancient papers, which fully prove, that the Spaniards are in- 
debted to the Arabians for the culture of the sugar-cane, and the manufacture of sugar, which they 
have so successfully introduced into America. Voyage Pittoresque et Historique de 1'Espagne, 
torn. ii. p. xli. 

f Beckmann's Hist, of Inventions, vol. i. p. 284, and vol. iv. p. 264. 

I Jacob's Travels in Spain, p. 276. Their grain was separated from the straw by the treading 
of oxen, a practice retained in Spain to this day. It does not, however, appear, that they culti- 
vated grain to any great extent ; as their religion forbad them to sell their superfluous corn to the 
surrounding nations. In years of abundance it was deposited in the caverns of rocks, lined with 
straw, the mouths of which were covered with the same material, where it was preserved for a long 
6uccession of years. On the birth of every child, a cavern was filled with corn, which was des- 
tined to be his portion when he arrived at years of maturity. Ibid. pp. 151, 276. 

§ Casiri (torn. i. pp. 323 — 338) has given a copious and interesting analysis of the Treatise on 
Agriculture, by Abu Zacharia Jahia Ben Mohamad Ben Ahmad, a native of Seville : of this ela- 
borate work Casiri promised a Latin translation, which, unfortunately, he lived not to execute. In 
the curious list of fruits and vegetables, he mentions a singular mode of raising asparagus, as well 
as a remarkable property possessed by that vegetable ; the novelty of which may perhaps admit of 
their insertion here. If, says he, a stalk of asparagus be smeared with honey, and after being 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 263 

Arabs have left us, we shall find that every soil was appropriated to 
that species of culture which was best adapted to it. Thus, at Elchar, 
a town in the kingdom of Valencia, the traveller might fancy himself 
transported into Africa, on finding himself in the midst of groves of 
palm-trees, planted not in an ornamental order, but confusedly for the 
convenience of the inhabitants, who have a regular date-harvest ; they 
also gather a considerable quantity of the branches, which are used at 
the festival of Palm Sunday. The culture of rice is conducted in the 
highest perfection in the same kingdom, particularly in the marshy 
grounds near Albufera ; and, although the Valencians have slightly 
deviated from the instructions given them by Abu Zacharia, the culture 
of that vegetable forms the principal riches of the country, and is in no 
respect inferior to that of silk. For these beautiful productions, they 
are indebted to the Arabians. On the lands at Oliva and Gandia, espe- 
cially those bordering on the Mediterranean, sugar-canes and cotton 
were raised ; while the Axaraf of Seville, and by far the greatest part of 
Andalusia were planted with olive trees, and those of Xeres, Granada, 
and Malaga, were covered with vines. 

The Arabians were eminently skilled in the art of irrigating the soil ; 
and likewise were the inventors of an instrument termed a Warhifal, 
for the purpose of levelling the grounds. In the vicinity of the village 
of Moncada, in the kingdom of Valencia, there are still existing not 
only the ditches and conduits levelled with the astrolabe, but also the 
very same order and method which were formerly established for irri- 
gation. The cultivator knows, to this day, the exact time when the 
water will reach his field, the quantity necessary for watering it, and 
the time it must remain on his ground ; and fails not to open and shut 
the flood-gates, which serve as a barrier to the waters. The slightest 

sprinkled with oak ashes, he committed to the ground, it will produce many stems, particularly 
white ones, of considerable thickness, and sometimes party-coloured towards the top. The Ara- 
bian author adds, that the pulverized root of the asparagus, mixed with oil, if rubbed into meat 
either already tainted, or almost corrupted (provided this be previously washed) will totally remove 
the fcetor. Casiri, torn. i. p. 337. A Spanish translation of Abu Zacharia's work appeared at 
Madrid, by Banquieri, in 2 vols, folio, 1S02, which we have not seen. 



264 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



negligence on his part would expose him to a fine, that would be levied 
upon him by a court, from whose decision no appeal lies ; and which is 
composed of the principal persous concerned in this irrigation, who 
hold their sittings every Sunday at the church-door : like the Cadis 
among the Arabians, this court hears complaints verbally, and pro- 
nounces its definitive sentence on the spot. 

But the active industry of the Arabians did not confine itself to the 
kingdom of Valencia, in ord er to draw off the waters from the rivers, 
and thence to form conduits and reservoirs. Within the last fifty years, 
canals have been discovered in the district of Orxiva, a town in the 
kingdom of Granada, which conducted water to fertilize the plain ; and 
the reports made at that time, prove, that the Spanish Arabs excavated 
the rocks, in order to form a conduit nine hundred feet in length, by 
six feet in height, and five broad. By them also were erected the 
aqueducts of Carmona, which conduct water to a distance of more than 
four leagues ; and which, by means of large arches of brick and mortar, 
abut on the gate of Seville, whence the water is distributed over that 
great city through various pipes. 

The agriculture of the Arabs being carried to the high degree of 
perfection announced by the above-cited work of Abu Zacharia, the 
wonderful accounts given us by historians, relative to the fertility 
of the country, and the opulence of the towns, will no longer appear 
extraordinary. On perusing the narrative of the division made by King 
Ferdinand at Seville, in 1253, we shall find millions of olive trees 
planted in that province, without reckoning the fig and other fruit 
trees. The plain of Granada, irrigated by five rivers, whose waters 
divide themselves into a thousand channels, forms a garden nearly thirty 
leagues in extent, and entirely covered with orange and pomegranate 
trees, vines, and fruit trees. How charming must it have appeared, 
during the reigns of the Kings of Granada, when it contained upwards 
of one hundred and thirty mills, an infinite number of embattled 
towers, and more than three hundred pleasure houses! In the time of 
the Arabs the banks of the Guadalquivir presented more than twelve 
thousand villages or small towns, and its environs might be compared 



EMPJRE IN SPAIN. 



265 



to the Arrizafa of Cordova, and to the Generalife of Granada, both for 
the variety of their fruits, and the beauty of their flowers.* 

Nor were the Arabs less attentive to ornamental gardening : while 
they reared the most delicate fruits for the gratification of the palate, 
they laid out their gardens in such a style as to delight both the eye 
and the smell. Water was every where conveyed in rich abundance, 
to cool the temperature of the air. The garden, attached to the mosque 
at Cordova, f and that belonging to the Alhamra, though neglected, 
still present a favourable idea of the horticultural skill of the Spanish 
Arabs : but the most complete specimen of an Arabian garden, is that 
of the Alcazar, an ancient palace at Seville, which was originally 
founded by the Moors, though it has received considerable alterations 
and additions from subsequent monarchs. This garden was laid out by 
the Moors, and is preserved in its original state: it contains walks paved 
with marble, and parterres, laid out with evergreens, and well shaded 
with orange trees. In many parts of it, there are baths, supplied by 
marble fountains from a noble aqueduct (originally erected by the 
Romans, and repaired by the Moors), that furnishes the whole city 
of Seville with water. There is an ingenious contrivance peculiar to 
this garden, by which the walks are rendered one continued fountain, 
by forcing up small streams of water from minute pipes inserted in the 
joining of the slabs, which in this climate produces a most delightful 
effect. An intelligent traveller observes, that, as a specimen of an Ara- 
bian garden in its original state, this is an interesting object : and we 
naturally associate with it recollections gathered from the eastern 
writers, especially from the Song of Solomon, in the Scriptures, in which 
the descriptions perfectly accord with this garden ; for, in addition 
to the other circumstances, it is completely walled round, and is 

* La Borde, Voyage Pittoresque et Historique de l'Espagne, tom.ii. (Notice Historique,) p. xl. 
who cites Banquieri's Introduction to his Version of Abu Zacharia. De Castro, Hist, de Seville, 
c. ii. p. 51 . 

f See a view and description of this garden in the Cf Arabian Antiquities of Spain," Plate IV, 

m m 



266 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



secluded from every person, except the inhabitants of one part of the 
palace.* 

The Spanish Arabs made some progress in working mines of the va- 
rious metals with which the mountains of Granada abound. An oriental 
writer of the tenth century, Ebn Haukal,| asserts, that in Andalus, or 
Spain, there were many mines of gold and silver. From these the 
Moorish sovereigns derived ample supplies of the precious metal, and 
probabty also by washing the sand of the river Dauro or Darro, which 
runs through the city of Granada. The works of Abdullah Ibnii-1- 
Khatib, and of Abdurrahman Abu Jaafar further prove, that they 
worked mines of gold, silver, iron, lead, marcasites, and many other 
minerals ;J for which purpose they sunk pits of a square form, and 
rather narrow, and differing from those of the Romans, which were 
round and very extensive, By observing this difference Don Bowles § 
discovered the great works undertaken by the Arabs for the working 
of mines ; and, in illustration of it, he notices the traces still existing in 
the kingdom of Jaen, near Linares ; where, within the space of about 
a league, upwards of five hundred pits or wells may be seen, which 
were sunk after the Arabian manner. We have no certain evidence 
whether they availed themselves of the quicksilver mine, which had 
been worked by the Romans, at Almaden ; which, however, seems pro- 
bable, since, in the writings of Novairi and Mogrebi, relative to the 
superb palace of Azzahra, erected by Abdurrahman, mention is made 
of a large basin of alabaster, in the centre of which a fountain of quick- 
silver played.^l 

That the Arabs were skilled in the working of metals, there is every 
reason to believe, from the canals oft he mosque of Cordova — the aque- 

* Jacob's Travels in the South of Spain, p. 83. A short description of this garden is also given 
in Tow risen d's Travels in Spain, vol. ii. p. 299. 

t Oriental Geography of Ebn Haukal, translated by Sir Wm. Ouseley, p. 27« 
I Ibnu-1 Khatlb apud Casiri, torn. ii. p. 248, col. 2. 
§ Introduction a l'Histoire Naturelle de l'Espagne, pp. 6 3 55, and 416. 
^1 See pp. 169, 170, supra. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



267 



ducts erected by Abdurrahman II. for conveying water to that city 
— the coining of money, which was first struck in Spain, during his 
reign — and, lastly, from the casting of cannon for carrying on the siege 
of Algeciras. The iron and lead mines were so productive, that the 
Spanish Arabians were enabled to export considerable quantities of 
those metals to the Christians of Barcelona, and the Moors of Africa.* 

Their manufactures of iron and steel were considerable, and the latter 
were so excellent, that the swords of Granada were preferred to all 
others in Spain. By the Africans, the temper of the Spanish arms was 
held in the greatest repute ; Spain being, as it were, the arsenal whence 
they drew their cuirasses, bucklers, casques, scymetars, and daggers. f 
The manufactures of silk and cotton were introduced by the Arabians 
into Spain : woollen cloths were made of a very fine quality ;$ and in 
dyeing they eminently excelled. To the Spanish Arabs we are probably 
indebted for the introduction of dyeing black with indigo ; with the 
use of cochineal they were well acquainted :§ and of their progress in 
the manufacture of porcelain, we have abundant evidence in the superb 
vases still preserved in the palace of the Alhamra,|| and in the glazed 
tiles which form a distinguished ornament of that magnificent edifice. 

The cooper's art does not appear to have been known or practised 

* Jacob's Travels in Spain, pp. 277, 278. 

+ Among the numerous works of the celebrated philosopher Alkindi, are two treatises, one on 
the different kinds of swords, in which the properties of iron are particularly discussed ; and the 
other, on the art of preparing iron (steel) in such a manner, that the edge of a sword can neither 
be broken nor blunted. Casiri, torn. i. p. 356. col. 2. 

j The question, M. La Borde remarks, is by no means decided, whether the practice of making 
sheep travel, in order to refine their fleeces, was in use among the Spanish Arabs, or is a modern 
invention ; for among other presents of great value, which were sent to the Emperor Charlemagne 
by the sovereigns of Africa and Persia, there was a quantity of fine Spanish wool ; and the Khalif 
Muhammad Abu Abdullah, also presented to Charles the Bald a piece of very fine Spanish woollen 
cloth, manufactured at Cordova about the year 860. Voyage Pittoresque, t. ii. p. xli. Masdeeu, 
Hist. Crit. de Espana, torn. xiii. p. I3l„ 

§ Beckmann's Hist, of Inventions, vol. ii. p. 167, and vol. iv. p. 126. 

|| See Mr. Murphy's "Arabian Antiquities of Spain," Plates XLVII. and XLVIII. for splendid 
specimens of Arabian Porcelain. 



268 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



among them, as they supplied the place of the numerous wooden ves- 
sels to which we are accustomed in domestic life, with baked earth, 
either plain or glazed. Even their tan-pits were made of the same 
material : a cluster was observed by the author of the Arabian Antiqui- 
ties of Spain, on the northern bank of the Guadalquivir, in the vicinity 
of Cordova, where they probably tanned the celebrated cordovan lea- 
ther. The alcarrazas, or porous earthen vessels employed to this day in 
Spain for the purpose of cooling liquids, were first introduced by the 
Arabs from the east, where they have been known from time immemo- 
rial ; and their use has since been extended from the peninsula to all 
the Spanish colonies in America and India. But the manufacture, in 
which they pre-eminently excelled, was that of tanning, currying, and 
dyeing leather,* which, though now almost lost in Spain by the expul- 
sion of the Moors, has been carried by them to Fez, where great num- 
bers of them settled ; it has also been established in England, where 
the terms Morocco and Cordovan are still applied to leather prepared 
after their mode. With the manufacture of gunpowder and of sugar, 
we have already seen that they were acquainted ; and it now remains 
that we give to the Spanish Arabs the honour of introducing the m aim- 
fact ti e and use of paper into western Europe. This invaluable com- 
modity, it is true, has been made in China from the refuse of silk, from 
a very remote period : about the 30th year of the Hijra (A. D. 649) the 
paper manufacture was established at Samarcand ; and on the conquest 
of this celebrated city by the Saracens in the 85th year of the Hijra, 
the process of fabricating it was conveyed by Yusuf Ainru to Mecca, 
his native city. The material employed by him was cotton : and the 
first paper, nearly similar to that now in use, was made there in the 
88th year of the Hijra (A. D. 706). From Mecca, this branch of 

* In order to strike blue and green colours, they made use of a peculiar sort of woad called 
ocymo admirahile, with which they also produced a very beautiful scarlet. After preparing the 
skins with various ingredients, they dyed them of lively colours, and finished them with such a de- 
gree of brilliancy, that they looked as if they had been varnished. This manufacture is still carried 
on in a few places in Andalusia. La Borde, torn. ii. p. xli. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



269 



manufacture spread rapidly through all the Arabian states, particularly 
in Spain ; where the town of Xativa, the modern San-Philippo, in the 
kingdom of Valencia, was celebrated for its beautiful fabrics, so early 
as the twelfth century. It appears that, at this period, the Spaniards had 
substituted flax, which they grew in considerable quantities, for cotton, 
which was more scarce, as well as dearer : nor, were paper manufacto- 
ries established in the Christian states of Spain, until the close of the 
thirteenth century, when they were introduced through the care of 
Alphonsus X. King of Castille. From thence they passed successively 
into France, Germany, and England. Italy was the last of the Euro- 
pean states that received the manufacture of linen paper: the first 
manufactories established in that country were those of Padua and 
Treviso, about the middle of the fourteenth century.* 

The greatest part of the Arabians, satisfied from the earliest times 
with national independence and personal liberty, tended their camels, 
or reared their palm trees within the precincts of their own peninsula ; 
and had little intercourse with the rest of mankind, unless when they 
sallied out to plunder a caravan or to rob a traveller. In some districts, 
however, they had begun to add the labours of agriculture to the occu- 
pations of pastoral life :f and with the civilized nations of ancient times 
they had carried on extensive mercantile transactions. The indigenous 
aromatics, drugs, and dyes of Arabia, as well as the spices which were 
imported from India, and the gold imported from Africa, occasioned an 
extensive and animated intercourse with Egypt and Assyria. The 
frankincense of Yemen continually perfumed the temples of Babylon, J 
and its spices fomented the luxury of Egypt. § The great commerce, 
and the capitals by means of which it was carried on, according to 
Abulfeda,|| were to be found in the cities along the Arabian coast, forty- 
two in number, under the successors of Mahomet ; but which were more 

* Casiri, torn. ii. p. 9. Andres, torn. ii. p. 146 — 183. 

f Sale's Koran, vol. i. pp. 32, 33. Dr. Robertson's Disquisition concerning Ancient India, 
p. 99, 8vo. edit. \ Herodotus, lib. i. c. 183. § Genesis, ch. xxxvii. v. 21—25. 

D Apud Hudson, Geographi Minores, vol. ii. pp. 15, 16 



270 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



numerous in the times preceding the prophet. By land, this traffic was 
carried on by caravans, and its conductors were the Nomadic troops of 
Tema and the companies of Sema,* the Nabathasans of antiquity, and 
the Bedoweens of the present day, — men, who from the age of Moses 
downwards have led the same pastoral life, conducting their sheep, 
horses, and camels through wide solitudes, to the same distant wells, 
and to the same scattered specks of scanty pasture. 

In consequence of the rapid diffusion of Islamism, both during the 
life, and especially after the death of its founder, the Arabians early 
became masters of Persia and Egypt: and, finding their new subjects 
in both countries engaged in prosecuting an extensive trade with India, 
they were so sensible of the great advantages derived from it, that they 
became desirous to partake of them. From impetuous warriors, the 
Arabs soon became enterprising merchants ; and in a short time they 
advanced far beyond the boundaries of ancient navigation, and brought 
many of the most precious commodities of the east directly from the 
countries which produced them.f 

During the latter part of the Gothic monarchy in Spain, the arts, 
navigation, and commerce had greatly decayed, and the country was 
proportionably impoverished : but, as soon as the Arabians were firmly 
established in their newly acquired dominions, literature, arts, and 
manufactures revived ; and they availed themselves to the fullest extent 
of the commercial advantages, which their ports and line of coast pre- 
sented to them. The port of Barcinona, now called Barcelona, became 
the principal station of the intercourse with the eastern countries bor- 
dering on the Mediterranean Sea ; and the ship carpenters of that city 
built vessels, not only for their own countrymen, but also for other 
nations. The most prosperous period, however, of the Arabian com- 
merce in Spain, was during the reign of the illustrious Abdurrahman III. 
Khalif of Cordova. Of their internal traffic no particulars have been 

* Job, ch. vi. v. 19. 

t Dr. Robertson's Disquisition, p. 100, et seq. To which the reader is referred for an interesting 
sketch of Ancient Arabian commerce: but the completest account extant is to be found in Dr. 
Vincent's classical work " The Periplus of the Erythrean Sea," 4to. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



271 



recorded, that can enable us to form any correct estimate of its extent 
and importance : but their foreign commerce was distributed into various 
channels, which brought an incredible flow of wealth into their 
country. 

Gold, silver, copper, raw and wrought silk, sugar, cochineal, quick- 
silver, pig and cast iron, olives,* and especially their woollen manu- 
factures, were the most lucrative articles of exportation. To these must 
be added ambergris, yellow amber, load-stones, antimony, talc, marca- 
sites, rock crystal, oil, sugar, sulphur, saffron, ginger, myrrh, and 
various other drugs, — corals fished on the coast of Andalusia, pearls 
obtained from that of Catalonia ; rubies, of which two mines had been 
discovered in the vicinity of Malaga and at Beja, and also amethysts 
procured from a mine near Carthagena. All these last enumerated 
articles, though inferior in value and quantity to the other exports, 
nevertheless produced clear and ample returns. Barbary, Egypt, and 
the east, were the countries with which they principally carried on their 
extensive commerce. Throughout Africa, the Spanish arms, raw and 
wrought silks, and woollen cloths of various colours, were in very great 
demand ; and with Egypt they bartered their different exports, to a 
still greater amount, for such commodities as were in the greatest re- 
quest in Spain : and the luxuries of India were brought from Alexandria 
to Malaga, to supply the wants of the court. 

In this lucrative commerce, which was almost entirely conducted by 
the Jews, Almeria, Barcelona, and Valencia, chiefly participated : and 
these places under the Moorish dominion, were as eminent emporia as 
the Hanse towns. In the 12th and 13th centuries, the port of Almeria 
was principally celebrated ; and in the 14th century, the trade of Bar- 
celona was immense. That city had armed vessels for protecting the 
coasts of Catalonia, and the safety of her commerce ; she had a factory 
on the Tanais, where a consul resided, who in 1397 offered presents to 
Tmrnr, or Tamerlane. At the period now referred to, the Arabs bad 

* Seville was the principal mart for olives under the Moorish dominion in Spain ; and so ex- 
tensive was the trade in tiiis article, that in the Axarafe or olive plantations with which that city 
was surrounded, the number of farm-houses and olive-presses amounted to one hundred thousand 



272 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



a numerous marine ; their ships were built from the woods and forests 
of Spain ; and they are said to have possessed upwards of one thousand 
merchant vessels.* 

But the immensity of their traffic with the east is scarcely to be con- 
ceived. From motives of policy, the Khalifs of Cordova endeavoured 
to preserve amicable relations with the Greek emperors, with a view to 
check the enterprises of the Khalifs of Damascus ; who ceased not to 
repine at the dismemberment of their empire by Abdurrahman I. All 
the ports of the Grecian dominions were open to the Spanish traders, 
who brought rich cargoes of merchandize, adapted to the calls of that 
refined luxury, by which the court of Constantinople was then distin- 
guished. The profits derived from these successful speculations, must 
have been prodigious: and, while they abundantly remunerated the 
merchants, afforded an ample source of revenue to the sovereign. f From 
the treatise on commerce of Moslem a Abulcassem of Madrid, who wrote 
in the 10th century, it appears that the balance of trade was decidedly 
in favour of the Spanish Arabs ; whom Casiri compares to the ancient 
Phoenicians and Carthaginians, for their maritime commerce, and the 
voyages they undertook by sea.if: 

Of the money, current among the Spanish Arabs in their commercial 
transactions, our information is scanty and imperfect. The historian 
Ibnu-l-Khatib states generally, that the Granadian money was inferior 
to none in point of goodness, being struck from the purest gold and 
silver.§ The more immediate successors of Muhammad coined no 
money in their own names, the Greek and Persian coins then in circu- 
lation, being deemed sufficient. The first Cufic coins, according to 
Elmacin,^[ were issued by order of the Khalif Abdulmalik in the 76th 
year of the Hijra, A. D. 695 ; but Al-Makrizi asserts, that the Khalif 
Omar coined money so early as the 18th year of the Hijra, A. D. 639. \\ 

* Manuel Geographique et Statistique de l'Espagne, pp. 311, 312, 

+ Cardonne, Hist, de l'Afrique et de l'Espagne, sous la domination des Arabes, torn. i. pp. 
340-343. | Casiri has given a brief notice of his life and writings, torn. i. p. 378. col. 2. 

§ Ibid, torn. ii. p. 259, col. 1. f Elmacin, Hist. Saracenica, p. 64. 

|| Al-Makrizi, Historia Monetae Arabics (a Tychsen, Rostock, 1797, 8vo.) pp. 7, 78. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



273 



Which of these accounts is the more correct, it is at this time difficult to 
determine ; no Critic coin being known to be extant, of so early a date 
as the time of Abdnlmalik. Notwithstanding Muhammad prohibited 
every species of human representation, the Khalifs stamped their effi- 
gies on one side of their respective coins, and on the reverse their names, 
together with some passages from the Koran. Among the various coins 
of the Musalman sovereigns, which have hitherto been published, none 
are to be found of the Spanish Khalifs : M. Adler, whose learned re- 
searches on this topic will amply repay the study of the numismatic 
antiquarian, has noticed only one gold coin, which was struck by 
order of Yusuf Ibn Tashifin, Emperor of Morocco ; who, having been 
invited into Spain, to assist the Moslems against Alphonso King of 
Toledo, quickly made himself master of Granada, Seville, and the rest 
of the Arabian conquests in the peninsula ; the same able writer also 
mentions another coin of AH, his son, which is supposed to have been 
minted at Seville.* The coins, most frequently mentioned in the history 
of the Spanish Arabs, are the Dinar, and the Dirham : the former was 
of gold, and varied both in weight and value, under the reigns of the 
different Khalifs ; it is computed, by the best writers, to have been equi- 
valent to about nine shillings and two-pence sterling. The dirham was 
a silver coin, the value of which, being equally fluctuating, it is diffi- 
cult to ascertain. 

Somewhat more satisfactory than the preceding, is our information 
relative to the weights and measures, employed by the Spanish Arabs ; 
of which the following are mentioned as being most frequently in use. 
The lowest denomination of weights was a grain or barley-corn, which 

* Adleri Museum Cuficura Borgianum, cap. ii. The coin of Yusuf ibn Tashifin, above no- 
ticed, is engraved in the introductory title-page to Mr. Murphy's Description of Arabian Antiqui- 
ties in the Alhamra : it is also described by Professor Tychsen in the words of the Granadine 
historian, Abu Mohammed Ben Abdalhalim. Hist. Mon.pp. 66, 149. M. Tychsen further notices 
(p. 87, note) two Andalusian coins, one of the year of the Hijra 104 in his own possession, and 
another of the year 107, engraved by M. Hallenberg in a disquisition published at Stockholm in 
I797« Niebuhr has engraved and described some ancient Arabic coins, in his Description de I'Arabie^ 
Plates X. XII. pp. 86-88. 

N n 



274 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



weighed f of a drachm. Two grains formed one satuj ; two satuj, 
or four grains, one W^S or \s\j» 9 kirat or karrat (the grain of the siliqua 
dulcis or sweet pea), whence our English weight of the carat is derived. 
Among the Arabs of Asia and Egypt, three kirats made one jjta ddnik, 
but in Spain only two kirats. Twelve kirats made a dirham ; the 
JUi*« mithcal was 1^ or \\ of a dirham. The JL, rati, was a weight of 
20 ounces among the Asiatic Arabs ; but among the Arabs of Spain it 
contained only 12 ounces. Two ratls formed the ^ mann, which was 
also a dry measure ; the <uij1 aukiya, or ounce, was a weight of 40 dir- 
hams, according to the Sunna ; but afterwards, especially among the 
physicians, it weighed only lOf dirhams. Of these various weights, 
the mithkal appears to have been most frequently in use. Among the 
Arabian measures of length, we may notice the dhira or cubit, and 
the ba, which was equivalent to the length of an arm, an ell. The 
largest measure of dry things, Casiri terms a cyathus, and states it to 
have contained six modii, or from 9 to 12 pecks of our measure.* 

* Margaritse collectse e Makrizi Libello de Ponderibus et Mensuris, in Hist. Monet. Arab, 
pp. 135-14G. Casiri, torn. i. pp. 281, 365, 366. Any inaccuracy in the above comparative state- 
ment of Arabian coins, weights, and measures, the reader (it is hoped) will regard with an indulgent 
eye ; when he considers the difficulty of ascertaining their respective equivalents. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



275 



SECTION II. 

ARCHITECTURE OF THE ARABIANS. 



Origin of the Ancient Architecture of Arabia — Notice of some ancient Edifices — 
Mosques at Damascus and Cairuan — Architecture of the Arabs in Spain — 
Improvements in Arabian Architecture — Pantanas or Reservoirs — Observations 
on the Arrangement of their Houses — Structure of their Roofs — Durability of 
Moorish Edifices — Form of Bricks — Walls, how constructed — The characteris- 
tic Features of Arabian Architecture considered. 

V arious and remote were the sources, whence the Arabians derived 
their notions of the arts. Some rudiments of the learning of the sur- 
rounding nations, — the Egyptians, Syrians, Chaldeans, and Persians — 
were, in all probability, introduced among them at a very early period 
by means of commercial intercourse : but these rudiments of science 
continued, like their dreary wastes, uncultivated and unimproved. Se- 
cluded in a great degree from social intercourse with the rest of mankind, 
and rarely disturbed by foreign invaders, they acquired, in lawless in- 
dependence, habits averse from the cultivation of the arts and sciences : 
previously to the age of Muhammad, we have seen that they possessed 
only a scanty knowledge of the arts ; and, before the institution of 
Islamism, they appear to have been extremely deficient in the art of 
building, even in the beautiful country of Yaman. In this province 
were situated the most ancient and populous of the forty-two cities of 
Arabia, enumerated by Abu-lfeda ; of which Sanaa and Merab were the 
most distinguished. 

Sanaa, the capital, Was celebrated for its lofty towers ; and, by the 



276 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



historian just mentioned, is compared to Damascus for the splendour of 
its edifices.* Merab, or Meriaba, which is said to have been six miles 
in circumference, when it was destroyed by the Roman legions under 
iElius Gallus,f was famous for its vast reservoir, formed by a narrow 
valley between two ranges of hills, and a day's journey in length. 
Hither flowed the waters of six or seven small rivers : to confine these 
in the rainy season, the narrow entrance of the valley was shut up by 
a solid wall of hewn stone, fifty feet in height, on which many of the 
inhabitants erected dwellings, and in which three flood-gates were con- 
structed one above another, to diffuse the fertilizing fluid over the adja- 
cent lands, during the dry season . But God, says the Nu bian geographer, 
being highly displeased at their great pride and insolence, and resolving 
to humble and disperse them, sent a mighty torrent, which broke down 
the mound by night, and swept away the whole city, together with the 
neighbouring towns and people.^ 

One of the most distinguished architects of ancient Arabia was Sen- 
namar, who is supposed to have been a Chaldean by birth. By him 
were erected for Noman Al Aouar, the tenth king of Hira, the castles 
or towers of Sedir and Khawarnak, so celebrated by the Arabian poets 
and proverbs, by whom they were reckoned among the wonders of the 
world. With such skill, it is said, were these edifices erected, that a 
single stone tied together each entire structure ; and the colour of the 
stones, with which the walls were built, changed several times in the 
course of the day. The fate of the architect was remarkable, and gave 
rise to the Arabian proverb, — " the reward of Sennamar." To com- 

* Abu-lfeda, apud Geograph. Minores, torn. iii. p. 54. According to the Danish traveller, 
Niebuhr, who has given a plan of the city, Sanaa is still the residence of the Iman of Yaman. 
Voyage en Arabie, torn. i. pp. 341-342. f Pliny, Hist. Nat. lib. vi. c. 32. 

+ Geogr. Nubiensis, pp. 52-53. Sale's Koran, Prelim. Discourse, p. 10, 4to. edit. The in- 
quisitive traveller, Niebuhr, however, treats this tradition relative to the destruction of the reservoir 
of Merab as a popular fable, and ascribes it to neglect, in not repairing the mound, when the 
Sabaean kingdom declined. ; the neighbouring fields being no longer watered from the reservoir, 
became waste and barren, and the city was thus left without the means of subsistence. He adds, 
that Merab is so situated on an eminence, and at such a distance, that it could not suffer in con- 
sequence of the demolition of the wall. Descript. de l'Arabie, pp. 240-242. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



217 



pensate him for his labour, the sovereign made him very splendid 
presents ; but, considering afterwards that Sennamar might erect similar 
towers for his enemies, and fearing also lest he should discover the key- 
stone of the building, he commanded him to be precipitated headlong 
from its summit into the ditch that surrounded it ! * 

Of the other remains of ancient architecture in Arabia, but few monu- 
ments have been preserved ; and of those few, the best accounts are both 
imperfect and uncertain. The supposed houses of the people called 
Thamud, it is said, are still to be seen in excavations of rocks ; but, of 
the seven ancient temples in which the Arabs worshipped their idols, 
the Caaba at Mecca is the only one, which has survived the desolations 
of time, and retains its primeval sanctity. The origin of this quadran- 
gular edifice is lost in a cloud of idle traditions : it is twenty-four cubits 
long, twenty-three broad, and twenty-seven high ; a door on the east 
side, and a window, admit the light; the double roof is supported by 
three octangular pillars of aloes-wood ; and a spout, formerly of wood 
but now of gold, discharges the rain water. The munificence of a king 
of the Homerites, who reigned one hundred and twenty-eight years 
before the Christian iEra, has been commemorated in Arabian verse, 
in covering the holy temple with striped cloth and fine linen, and in 
making keys for its gate : the modern veil of black silk fringed with 
gold, is annually renewed by the Turkish emperor. Since the promul- 
gation of the Koran, the Caaba is the kibla or fixed point of the horizon, 
to which the Moslems in every part of the world turn their faces when 
they pray : it is now encompassed by a spacious quadrangle, the work 
of successive Khalifs, consisting of porticoes and apartments for the 
accommodation of the pilgrims who resort to it from various parts of 
the east.f But the tombs belonging to the eighty descendants of 
Mahomet, and also the tomb of his wife Kadija, no longer excite the 
veneration of the Moslems. The holy city was entered by the Wahabees, 
a numerous body of reformed Mahometans, on the 27th of April, 1803, 
who levelled the tombs to the ground, and plundered the holy places 

* D'Herbelot, Bibliotheque Orientale, torn. iii. p. 307. Ant. Universal Hist. vol. xvi. p. 310. 
f Sale's Koran, Pre!. Disc. pp. 114-122. Sir W. Jones's Works, vol. iii. pp. 61-62. 



278 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



of their valuable articles, but suffered the Caaba to remain uninjured. 
Mecca, however, was afterwards repossessed by its Sharif.* 

Whatever knowledge of the arts the Arabians acquired, in the ages 
subsequent to Mahomet, they owed to the people whom they subdued 
from the Indus to the Nile. During the ten years' reign of Omar, the 
second Khalif, (who died A. D. 644), the victorious Moslems reduced 
to obedience thirty-six thousand cities or castles, destroyed four thou- 
sand churches or temples of the Christians, and erected fourteen hundred 
mosques for the exercise of the Mahometan religion. Immediately 
after the surrender of Jerusalem, Omar founded a small mosque, the 
first, perhaps, which was erected out of the precincts of Arabia, upon 
the site of the ancient temple : by the pious zeal of succeeding Khalifs, 
it was afterwards enlarged and embellished ; and, according to D'An- 
ville, its circumference is nearly a Roman mile, being two hundred and 
fifteen toises in length, by one hundred and seventy-two in breadth. f 
Of the splendour of this edifice some idea may be formed, from the ac- 
count of the Nubian geographer ; J who states it to be second only to 
the magnificent Mezquita at Cordova, the present state of which is 
delineated by Mr. Murphy with equal fidelity and beauty, in his " Ara- 
bian Antiquities of Spain." § 

* Lord Valentia's Voyages and Travels, vol. ii. pp. 3S8-389. 

It is to be regretted that no authentic delineation of this curious specimen of Arabian architecture 
has yet been communicated to the English reader. The Bodleian Library contains an original 
drawing of the Caaba; and an engraving, from a Turkish design, is given by Reland in his treatise 
on the Mahometan religion, both in the Latin and also in the French edition, with his corrections ; 
among which are seen doors and windows decorated with architraves, entablatures, and pediments, 
in the Graeco-Roman style. Reland's engraving has been followed in the plans of the Caaba, given 
in Gagnier's " Vie de Mahomet," Sale's " Koran," Pitts's " Account of the Religion and Man- 
ners of the Mahometans," Ockley's " History of the Saracens," and the " Ancient Universal 
History." The best view hitherto published, is that given by the German architect, Fischer, in the 
third book of his " Essai d'une Architecture Historique," (Leipsic, fol. 1725) from an original 
design ; which he states to have been made by an Arabian engineer, and which, after it had been 
sent to Constantinople, found its way to Vienna, where it was in the possession of the Counsellor 
Heidelberg, about the year 17 15. 

•f- D'Anville, Dissertation sur l'Etendue de l'Ancienne Jerusalem, pp. 42-54. See a description 
of the celebrated Mosque at Jerusalem, supra, p. 45-46, note. 

X Geographia Nubiensis, p. 113. § See particularly, Plates I. to VIII. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN 279 

With the extension of their empire and religion, the Arabians gra- 
dually acquired a relish for the arts : and on the commencement of the 
Omraiad dynasty, a taste for their cultivation began to diffuse itself. 
When Muavia, the first of that race, usurped the sovereign power, he 
removed the throne from Medina to Damascus ; and, disdaining the 
austere frugality of the first Khalifs, he assumed the magnificence of an 
Asiatic monarch. During his reign, and those of his successors, the 
seat of government was enlarged and adorned with numerous public 
edifices ; among which the great mosque of Damascus, founded by 
Alwalid I. is particularly celebrated. He appended to it the beautiful 
church of St. John the Baptist, and a lofty minaret; and during many 
years of his Khilafat, he expended a great part of his revenue in em- 
bellishing these edifices.* The example of the commanders of the 
faithful, was imitated by the governors of their provinces : the artificers 
of Damascus and Heliopolis, of Chalcis and Antioch, of Jerusalem, 
Tyre and Ca?sarea, were enlisted in the service of the state ; and the 
arts of Syria and Palestine became familiar to the descendants of the 
naked hordes of the desert. 

But the reigns of the Khalifs of the house of Al Abbas were most 
propitious to the culture of the fine arts among the eastern Arabs : the 
seat of empire, which had been removed by the first of the Ommiad 
dynasty to Damascus, was transferred by the second of the Abassides to 
the western frontiers of Persia ; and Baghdad, founded by Almansiir in 
the year of the Hijra, 145 — A. D. 762, continued for five centuries to 
be the splendid capital of the oriental Khalifs. In the structure and 
decoration of this city, neither labour nor expense was spared ; and the 
superb magnificence of Almansur's palace, would almost exceed the 
ordinary limits of human credence, were it not attested by the most 
authentic evidence. f 

Egypt and Africa, we have already seen, early yielded to the victo- 

* See a short account of this edifice supra, pp. 46, 47. 

•f- Mr. Gibbon has given an interesting account of the building of this celebrated city. Decline 
and Fall, vol. x. pp. 35 — 37. 



280 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



rious arms of the Moslems :* in the progress of their conquests, it does 
not appear that the Arabians founded any edifices between Alexandria 
and Ceuta, previously to their invasion of Spain, except the citadel of 
Caiman or Kairuan, founded by the victorious general Akbah, by 
whom it was modestly termed a colony.f After various reverses, Cai- 
man became the seat of learning and empire, under the Fatimite 
Khalifs, who, in the tenth century, founded the new city and palace of 
Cairo, and who affected to rival the fame of Baghdad, at least in the 
magnificence of their public buildings, and in their literary institu- 
tions. Numerous vestiges of ancient architecture are to be found at 
Caiman : and among the stately edifices with which this city is adorned, 
we may notice the great mosque, which is accounted the most sacred 
and magnificent in Barbary, and is said to be supported by five hundred 
columns of granite, porphyry, and Numidian marble. £ 

In arts and sciences, the western Arabs were not inferior to those of 
the east : the buildings erected by the Ommiad Khalifs of Spain rivalled 
those of Damascus, Baghdad, or Cairo in the zenith of their prosperity ; 
and the superb magnificence of the mosque at Cordova, of the city and 
palace of Azzahra, and of the royal fortress and palaces of the Alhamra 
and Al Generalife, which have already been described,§ surpass every 
thing that is recorded relative to the most splendid cities of antiquity. 
But, in reviewing the various remains of Arabian art, it is a circum- 
stance worthy of remark, that no people ever constructed so many 
edifices as the Arabs, who extracted fewer materials from the quarry. 
From the Tigris to the Orontes — from the Nile to the Guadalquivir, the 
buildings of the first settlers were raised from the wreck of cities, castles, 

* See pp. 17, 18, supra. 

f Ockley's Hist, of the Saracens, vol. ii. pp. 129, 130. D'Herbelot, torn. i. p. 477- 

% Leo African us, p. 223, cited in Shaw's Travels in Barbary, vol. i. p. 219. L'Afrique de 

Marmot; torn. ii. p. 532. 

§ See pp. 161 — 174, et seq. supra, for some account of Cordova, and the city of Azzahra, 

and pp. 192— 200 for the Alhamra, and villa of Al Generalife: but, to form any thing like correct 

notions of their real heauty and magnificence, the reader is referred to Mr. Murphy's f* Arabian 

Antiquities of Spain," already cited. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



281 



and fortresses. Modain, or Ctesiphon, and Babylon, furnished mate- 
rials for the public and private edifices of Baghdad. The dismantled 
towns and temples of Syria might suffice to raise the mosques and 
palaces of the Ommiad Khalifs. In Egypt, old Cairo was transformed 
into the new city of that name : Memphis was already in ruins, and 
the land was strewed with vestiges of the monuments of the Pharaohs, 
the Ptolemies, and the Caesars. The mosque of Mercy, at Alexandria, 
was composed of the recent ruins of the city, and erected on the spot 
where the victorious Amrii arrested the fury of his troops.* The work 
of destruction kept pace with the progress of conquest along the wes- 
tern coast of Africa, from Tripoli to the Atlantic : five hundred epis- 
copal churches are said to have been overturned with the African 
hierarchy, by the hostile rage of the Arabians and Moors ; many of 
whose scattered fragments were afterwards collected and cemented in 
the modern buildings of Tunis and Algiers, and the mosques of Cordova 
and Caiman were decorated with the spoils of Carthage. 

What most of all contributed to the improvement of Arabian archi- 
tecture was, their acquaintance with the mathematical writings of the 
Greeks. The first Moslems, indeed, having no idea of building beyond 
their native plebeian habitations, caused the artificers of the conquered 
countries hastily to pile up the fragments of plundered structures, 
according to their rude instructions. But, in later times, when their 
zeal for making conquests and proselytes had subsided, they found 
leisure to cultivate the sciences, and acquired a taste for the fine arts. 
Towards the close of the seventh century, they translated many of the 
Greek mathematical writers : the works of Archimedes, Euclid, Apol- 
lonius, and Diophantus, were explained in their language ; and they 
made very considerable progress in the mathematics, the main principle 
of the art of construction, f The uncontrolled dominion of Mesopota- 
mia, Syria, and Egypt presented to their view some of the greatest 
edifices of antiquity. The science of architecture was discussed by 
some of their learned men : Rashld composed an extensive treatise on 

* Gibbon, vol. ix. p. 439. 

f See an account of the mathematical studies of the Arabians, pp. 251 — 257, supra. 

o o 



282 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



this subject in three parts ; and the Ketab alhaitan, or art of building, 
by Thacafi, lias been commented upon by Damaguni, a distinguished 
Cadhy, or magistrate.* 

It is a prominent feature of Islamism, that wherever it is professed, 
it diffuses a general resemblance of manner and opinions. Hence, as 
the climate of southern Spain was in many respects not unlike to that of 
Arabia, we find that the manners of the Spanish Arabs were the same as 
those in the east. In every place the conveniency of water was a grand re- 
quisite; and to this day Spain is indebted to the Arabians for various 
aqueducts, f either erected or restored by them, as well as for Pantanos,% or 
vast reservoirs of water. The great mosque at Cordova, and the palace of 
Alhamra, at Granada, were both furnished with capacious cisterns; the 
gardens also contained canals or sheets of water, on the surfaces of which 
the buildings were reflected; and fountains were frequent in the streets, as 
well as in the courts of the houses, in the principal cities of Moorish Spain, 
by which the heat of the climate was attempered, during the summer. 
Further, on contrasting the disposition of the apartments in the Alhamra 
with the accounts given us by modern travellers relative to the modes 
of building in the east,§ we may perceive a general resemblance in the 
style of architecture : in both, we see large doors, spacious chambers, 
cloistered courts, with fountains playing in the centre, ornamented 
tiles, and elegantly executed mosaic work.|| The exterior, however, of 

* D'Herbelot, Bibl. Orient, torn. ii. p. 385. 

f See an account of the great aqueduct of Cordova, supra, p. 175- 

J Similar Pantanos, or reservoirs, have been constructed by the modern Spaniards. There is a 
capacious one at Alicant (Townsend's Travels, vol. iii. p. 191), and there was an ample reservoir at 
Lorca, in the kingdom of Murcia, which the Spaniards had formed on the site of a former one of 
the Arabs, but which was unfortunateiy destroyed on the 23d of April, 1802. The fertility of a 
considerable part of this province depended on the water of this Pantano, which was situated be- 
tween mountains, and was fortified at the hither extremity by a mound or bulwark of stone. An 
unusually heavy fall of rain which descended, caused the mound to give way; the water, in its 
progress, destroyed a great part of the city and its inhabitants, and, in short, whatever came within 
the rage of the foaming torrent, in its progress to the Mediterranean sea. For an account of the 
cisterns still subsisting in Africa, see Shaw's Travels, vol. i. p. 372. 

§ See particularly the engraving of a Moorish house in Shaw's Travels, vol. i. p. 373. 

| For an account of the houses of Granada in particular, see pp. 190, 191, supra. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



288 



their mansions was the object of comparatively little attention: upon 
the interior every thing was profusely lavished, that could tend to pro- 
mote luxurious ease and personal comfort. And so admirable was the 
arrangement of air in their apartments, that no reverberation of sound 
existed ; and the light was admitted in such a manner, as generally to 
exclude external prospects, and direct the spectator necessarily to be- 
hold and admire their interior ornaments and beauties. By means of 
caleducts, or tubes of baked earth, warm air was admitted, so as to pre- 
serve an uniform temperature : but they bestowed their utmost labour 
and skill in decorating the ceilings of their edifices ; and those which 
still subsist in the Alhamra and the royal villa of Al Generalife,* are 
perhaps the finest specimens extant of Arabian delicacy and taste. One 
of the completest Moorish houses now remaining in Spain is to be seen 
at Seville : it was originally erected for a Spanish-Arabian chieftain, 
whose residence it was ; and, though it is at least five centuries since it 
was built, this edifice was in perfect preservation in the year 1809. 

The whole is most voluptuously contrived for a warm climate ; but 
one of the apartments is stated to exceed every thing which the traveller 
had seen. Its form is a double cube, the one placed above the other; 
its height is about sixty feet, and its breadth about thirty feet. The 
ornaments begin at about ten feet from the floor, and are continued to 
the top of the room : they consist of a kind of variegated network of 
stucco, designed with uncommon regularity and beauty. This stucco 
is said to be composed of lime, mixed with the whites of eggs ; but 
whatever its ingredients may be, such is its durability, that after the 
lapse of at least five hundred years, not a flaw or crack is to be seen on 
its whole surface, which is as hard as stone. This apartment alone, it 
has been remarked, is a sufficient proof of the superiority of the Moors 
over the Spaniards in their taste for decorating their dwellings, f 

The manner in which the modern Spaniards cover their roofs, is also 
derived from the Arabs. First, they lay coarse boards over the rafters, 

* Many plates of these truly elegant ornaments occur in the "Arabian Antiquities of Spain." 
f Jacob's Travels in Spain, p. 84. 



284 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



and upon these boards is spread a coat of coarse brown plaster of Paris, 
mixed with pulverised free stone. A similar method was practised by 
the Moors ; who, instead of boards, sometimes used canes, and some- 
times bricks or flat tiles. The latter had a blue glazing over them ; 
and sometimes their paving bricks were made of various colours, as blue, 
white, black, yellow, &c. and, when properly contrasted, they have a 
very neat effect. 

The durability of the Moorish edifices is truly astonishing. History, 
indeed, furnishes some well authenticated instances of the durability of 
wood : the gate of cypress, belonging to the celebrated temple of Diana 
at Ephesus, lasted four hundred years ; and that of the old church of 
Saint Peter at Rome, which was composed of the same material, and 
lined with sheets of silver, continued undecayed for five hundred and 
fifty years. But a more remarkable instance of durability than either 
of these buildings presents, is to be found in the capacious mosque at 
Cordova. The beams employed in the construction of its roof, which 
is an admirable piece of carpentry, amount to several thousand cubic 
feet of a species of pine wood,* and manifest no signs of corruption or 
decay after a lapse of ten centuries. 

Notwithstanding the desolations of time in the course of the six cen- 
turies that have elapsed since the first erection of the Alhamra — not- 
withstanding the more desolating dilapidations caused by neglect or 
indolence on the part of its present owners — a large portion of that 
noble specimen of Arabian art still subsists, in an excellent state of 
preservation. The wood work of the floor, in many parts of this cele- 
brated edifice, is of pine : the veneering work of the cielings is, for the 
most part, if not entirely, of the same material ; and several pieces 
that were closely examined, proved to be perfectly sound ; not the 
slightest mark whatever of dry rot, worm, or insect could be observed 
in any part. This uncommon durability of the pine timber has been 
ascribed to the trees being well lanced, or deprived of their sap at the 
time of felling: but it is highly probable that the paint which was 

* Called by the Spaniards Alerce : it is, we believe, the white larch. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



28o 



applied to it, has contributed to its preservation. The first coat is white, 
composed perhaps of white lead and oil ; the second coat is brown, and 
probably composed of red lead and carpenter's glue.* Upon this coat 
are laid the other colours, in figures and foliage, which retain their 
lustre admirably, particularly the white ; which is so bright and clear, 
that the white roof of the Sala de Comares is generally supposed to be 
mother of pearl. When bricks or tiles were placed upon the wood- 
work, the Arabians put gypsum in contact with the wood. 

The Moors made the bricks, with which the floors of their fortresses 
were paved, of the following form : 




They were fourteen inches and a half in length, by seven inches and 
a half in breadth, and were three inches and a quarter thick. The 
bottom was divided into three parts, one of which was hollow, about 
three quarters of an inch, or an inch in depth : this cavity was made 
with the design of rendering them firm in the cement ; how well it 
answered, the remains of Arabian architecture, still existing, will 
abundantly evince. Where the brick pavement is laid over boards, 
there is a stratum, either of potter's clay, of bricks laid dry, or of 
gypsum, immediately in contact with the wood, but no lime, as that 

* The uncommon durability of the wooden cielings in the Alhamra, is, by the Spaniards, 
ascribed to their being coated with a composition, consisting of Safne glue (what this cement is, 
we have not been able to ascertain), and garlic well pounded in a mortar ; these being mixed 
together, with the addition of vermillion, are boiled over a gentle fire, until the glue becomes as 
thin as water. Too much or too little boiling deprives it of its viscous property. Planks, ce- 
mented together with this composition, will (it is said) adhere so firmly, as to break in any other 
part tl an at the juncture. Garlic being noxious to worms, the Moors evidently mixed it with 
the glue, in order to prevent their depredations : it is not improbable, that it was mixed with 
their gypsum, which may account for their stucco work remaining uninjured either by spiders or 
insects. MS. communication from Mr. Murphy. 



286 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



would injure the substance of the wood. Over this lower stratum was 
spread the cement/in which the bricks, tiles, marble flags, &c. were 
laid. 

Their walls are variously constructed of clay, brick, rubble, or of a 
compound of all these articles. Where coarse gravel was employed, 
they put in pieces of pine-wood, at certain intervals ; when soft clay 
was employed, strands or twists made of the esparto fStipa tenacissima J 
a species of rush, were put in ; in both cases, they used the common 
milha canes, as well as in their cielings. In the latter, they wound 
cords of esparto round the canes at similar intervals, and nailed these 
cords to the joists, but not to the canes. When they had occasion 
to apply gypsum or plaster over wood, esparto cords were twisted 
round it, in order to receive and bind the plaster : the same practice 
is retained to this day by the Spaniards, who find that it succeeds un- 
commonly well, and greatly contributes to the durability of their edi- 
fices. It also appears to have been a practice among the Moors to drive 
nails into the walls, to receive the plaster : the heads of several spikes 
and nails are still to be seen in the Alhamra ; but it is to be observed, 
that they put gypsum or plaster of Paris (not lime) in contact with the 
iron, which has thus been effectually preserved from rust. 

The remains of Arabian military architecture, which are in a toler- 
able state of preservation, are not very numerous. The fortress, or palace 
of Alhamra, already described, offers, perhaps, the finest specimen : few 
of its arches, however, exist ; and these are of a pointed horse-shoe 
form, with the exception of one, which is a parabola. Its walls, which 
are a mixture of clay and small rubble, and of small rubble stone and 
gravel, are cast in the manner above-mentioned, and are coated with the 
same material. They are about seven feet thick, and flanked by towers 
of eighteen feet in the thickness, quite solid. Both in the walls of 
this castle, as well as in those of the fortress at Velez Malaga, there are 
braces or ties, chiefly of pine-wood, which are buried in the wall ; and 
which continue perfectly free from rot, notwithstanding they have never 
undergone any preparation whatever. 
The Moorish fortresses were erected on the summits of almost inacces- 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



287 



sible mountains ; to which they retired when repulsed ; and whence, with 
recruited vigour, they again issued forth, and in their turn became the 
assailants. It has further been asserted, but on what evidence we have 
not been able to ascertain, that the telegraph was used, if not with all 
the effect and improvements of recent date, yet with a dexterity that 
gave them great advantages over an enemy. Watch-towers were con- 
structed, from which signals of smoke by day, and of torches by night, 
communicated the movements of their opponents.* 

On a careful review of the most perfect remains of Arabian architec- 
ture, and on comparing them with the best preserved specimens of 
other styles of ancient architecture, we may be justified in considering 
it as partaking chiefly of the Graeco-Roman, or Byzantine, that is, of the 
style which prevailed in the Lower Greek empire, and of the Egyptian. 
The former was adopted when the Arabians conquered the Roman 
provinces in the east : and the latter, on the subjugation of Egypt, by 
Amru under the Khilafat of Omar. M. Laborde, in his Voyage Pitto- 
resque de l'Espagne, has assigned three distinct periods to the rise, 
progress, and decay of Moorish architecture ; the first includes the 
space from the commencement of Islamism to the ninth century ; the 
second embraces the period from the ninth to the thirteenth century ; 
and the third, from that time to the decline of the Mahometan empire 
in Spain. 

During the first of these periods, the architecture of the Arabians 
evidently marks its origin : the finest specimens of this style, unques- 
tionably, is the mosque of Cordova, the plan of which corresponds in 
many respects with that of many of the oldest churches at Rome ; and 
the materials with which it was constructed, were either taken, or 
coarsely imitated, from the basilics which had previously been erected in 
Spain by the Romans. t 

Of the second period, the royal fortress and palace of Alhamra pre- 

* Jacob's South of Spain, p. 281. 

f See the history of this mosque, supra pp. 175 — 182, and for views of its various parts with re- 
marks on the peculiarities of its architecture, consult Mr. Murphy's "Arabian Antiquities of Spain," 
Plates I. to VII. 



288 THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



sents the most perfect model of pure Moorish architecture : it was 
founded towards the close of the thirteenth century, and from this time 
not a single vestige of the Byzantine or Grseco-Roman style presents 
itself in the edifices constructed by the Moors. 

The third period, from the end of the thirteenth century to the decline 
of the Mahometan power in Spain, is distinguished by a mjxed style. 
The arts, which had been revived in Italy, gradually diffused them- 
selves through western Europe, and their influence ultimately was felt 
in the peninsula ; where the Arabian architecture had associated its 
combinations with those of the Greek architecture. Of this mixed 
style, M. Laborde has found some specimens in the fortresses of Bena- 
vente, Pennafiel, Cordesillas, Segovia, and Seville : the tower belonging 
to the cathedral of Seville, as well as one of the courts called the Patio 
de las Narangas, are, perhaps, the best preserved specimens of this 
style.* 

The history of Arabian architecture, then, comprises a period of 
about eight hundred years ; during which the style of the second epocha 
(as already mentioned) presents, in the Alhamra, the purest and best 
preserved specimens of Arabian skill in the art of construction, particu- 
larly in the Court of the Lions, and in the Hall of the Abencerrages.f 
This kind of architecture, which some eminent writers have considered 
as the parent of what is called the Gothic style, $ is distinguished by 

* Descripcion Artistica de la Catedral de Sevilla, por Don Juan Agustin Cean Bermudez 
(Sevilla, 1804), pp. 4, 5. 

f See the " Arabian Antiquities of Spain," Plates XXXIII. to XXXVII. for views, elevations, 
&c. of the " Court of the Lions," and Plate XXXIX. for a view of the " Hall of the Aben- 
cerrages." 

X So various and so contradictory are the hypotheses which have been advanced to account for 
the origin of pointed or Gothic architecture (as by custom it is now generally termed) ; and so 
great are the ingenuity and ability with which those opinions have been urged, that it becomes 
difficult to determine the question amid such conflicting evidence. The limits of a note will not 
admit even of the concisest abridgment of these different hypotheses, among which, that of its 
oriental origin, first intimated by Sir Christopher Wren, is certainly the most probable. But it 
has been much impugned by Dr. Milner in the article on " Gothic Architecture," in the ]6th 
volume of Dr. Rees's Cyclopaedia, and in his " Treatise on the Ecclesiastical Architecture of 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



289 



the following characteristic features, viz. — 1. By the crescent form of 
its arches ; — 2. By the extraordinary lightness and elevation of its 
almost infinite assemblage of columns ; — 3. By the springing nerves 
or mouldings of the ogives, either single, or multiplied, that fix the 
arches, which, descending upon the columns, either stop there, or rest 
on consoles or trusses ; — and 4. By the prodigious quantity of orna- 
ments, either in relief or in creux, the composition of which is extremely 
varied. 

The origin of the crescent arch is involved in the deepest obscurity : 
the ancient buildings of Arabia had it not ; as the art of constructing 
arches of stone or brick, appears to have been unknown in that country 
before the reign of Mahomet. Till then, the tribe of the Koreish had 
been the sovereigns of Mecca: they reluctantly submitted to the new 
faith, and seized the first opportunity of regaining their former ascen- 
dancy. On the death of Aly, one of that tribe seized the Khilafat. and 
transmitted it to his posterity. Policy, indeed, perhaps conviction, 
might have prompted Muavia to maintain the doctrine of the Koran : yet 
he remembered the religion of his fathers, who worshipped the goddess 
of generation. The crescent arch, which, it is well known, was the symbol 
of that deity, was first adopted by the Arabs of Syria : and the edifices, 
erected by them during the reigns of the Ommiad dynasty, invariably 
displayed the sacred arch. This figure is said, on what authority we have 
not been able to ascertain, to be traced on the black stone at the door 

England during the Middle Ages." In this work Dr. M. attempts to refute the arguments for the 
Arabic or Oriental origin of Gothic architecture, contained in the elegant and instructive " Histo- 
rical Survey of the Ecclesiastical Antiquities of France," by the late Reverend G- D. Whittington ; 
whose arguments and proofs, however, are ably supported by the Reverend J. Haggitt, in " Two 
Letters to a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, on the subject of Gothic Architecture." An at- 
tentive study of the Treatises just mentioned, as well as the (i Essays on Gothic Architecture," from 
the works of Dr. Warton, and Messrs. Bentham, Grose, &c (which are in almost every person's 
hands), will enable the reader to determine for himself. Some additional evidence to confirm the 
hypothesis of the Eastern Origin of Gothic architecture, is given in pp. 33 — 37 of M. Lenoir's 
Histoire des Arts en France, prefixed to his " Description des Monumens Francais," in the Royal 
Museum at Paris (8vo. 1810). 

Pp 



290 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



of the Caaba, which is devoutly kissed by the pilgrims who annually 
visit Mecca. The Khalifs of the house of Al-Abbas, as if disliking an 
appendage characteristic of the family they had dethroned, introduced 
in their buildings at Baghdad, an arch, resembling the section of an 
oval, taken below the transverse diameter : and the sovereigns of Gra- 
nada adopted a similar arch in constructing the palace of Alhamra. 

It is, however, worthy of remark, that through the period of two 
hundred and fifty years, during which the house of Muavia reigned, 
from the Atlantic to the Pyrenees, the arch of their ancestors uni- 
formly prevailed in the structures erected by the Spanish Arabs. Some 
few arches indeed occur, which are sharp, like the Gothic ; but these, 
as Mr. Swinburne has remarked, were probably erected towards the 
close of the Moorish empire in Spain.* The columns, though slender 
and light, are by no means deficient in beauty, and are pleasing to the 
astonished eye of the spectator : they are generally placed in clusters 
of two, three, or more together, and are surmounted by various capitals. 
From these capitals rise the arches, which spring from one intercolum- 
niation to another ; above the first arch rises a second, which is consi- 
derably narrower. The structure and position of these arches and 
columns, which form so prominent a feature in the architecture of the 
Arabians, is exhibited to the greatest advantage in the noble mosque 
at Cordova. t 

* Travels in Spain, vol. i. pp. 139, 140. 

f See Plate V. of Mr. Murphy's " Arabian Antiquities of Spain." 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



291 



SECTION III. 

ON THE FINE ARTS OF THE SPANISH ARABS. 



State of the Fine Arts — Painting and Sculpture — Arabesques — Knot Ornaments — 
Ornamental Writing — Music, patronised by the Khalifs — Notice of eminent 
Professors of that Art — Marvellous Effects of Arabian Music — Its Nature and 
Genius. 

The ornaments, which in such rich profusion are scattered over the 
Moorish edifices, are not more distinguished by their variety, than by 
the singular delicacy of their execution : for, although painting and 
sculpture were odious to the first Moslems, as leading to idolatry, yet 
subsequently, when civilization, literature, and the arts were introduced, 
both the eastern and western Khalifs evaded, or violated with impunity, 
that precept of the Mahometan law, which proscribes every species of 
human representation. At first, the theologians called in the aid of 
geometry, in which truth resides without any mixture of idolatry, as a 
substitute for pictorial delineation : that science was received as the 
legal principle of design ; and by its unerring rules the orthodox artists 
patiently traced those intricate lineal compartments and chiligon mo- 
saics, which adorn the palace of Alhamra.* From the same scruples 
originated that peculiar ornament, which from the Arabians, has been 
termed the Arabesque; and in which no human or animal figures 
appear, — the subjects, painted or sculptured, consisting wholiy of ima- 
ginary plants, foliages, stalks, &c.t In later times, indeed, some of the 

* See the " Arabian Antiquities of Spain," Plates XLIX. to LXV. 
f Ibid. Plate LXXVIII. 



292 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



eastern Khalifs caused their images to be stamped on one side of their 
coins, and on the reverse were some passages from the Koran in Cufic 
characters ;* and in further defiance of the prophet's express mandate, 
Abdurrahman III. surnamed Annasir, placed the statue of his favourite 
mistress, Azzahra, over the magnificent palace which he had erected for 
her reception. f The sculptured lions, ornamented tiles, and the histo- 
rical paintings, still preserved in the Alhamra,$ are additional proofs of 
the advancement made by the Spanish Arabs in the tine arts. The 
paintings are a species of encaustic, and represent a Divan or Council, 
a battle-piece, a cavalcade, and hunting scenes: though somewhat im- 
paired by the destroying hand of time, sufficient still remains to shew, 
what the whole originally was, and further to illustrate the civil and 
military costume of the Arabs. 

Among the fine arts cultivated during the golden age of Arabian 
literature and science, that of Calligraphy, or ornamental writing, was 
an object of peculiar attention : they were indebted to the Chinese and 
Persians for their method of imparting a singular purity and neatness 
to their paper : but they soon excelled their masters, both in the manu- 
facture of that article, and in the execution of the writing. In order to 
render this more fair and delightful to the eye, they employed inks of 
admirable lustre, and studied to adorn their manuscripts with beautiful 
and vivid colours : and in addition to these devices for embellishing 
their paper, and giving to the productions of their pen the most agree- 
able appearance, Casiri relates that they possessed one process which was 
peculiarly their own. This was a method of dressing skins, and tinging 
them either of a red or of a black colour, of such a remarkable lustre, that 
he has, oftener than once, beheld himself in them as in a mirror. It is 
to be regretted that the learned librarian of the Escurial did not more 
particularly describe these chefs-d'oeuvre of the calligraphic art : his 

* Cardonne Hist, de l'Afrique et de l'Espague, torn. i. p. 330. 
•f See it described supra, pp. 167 — 174. 

% See " Arabian Antiquities of Spain," Plate XXXIV. for the Lions, and Plates XLIII. to 
XLV. for the Paintings. In the descriptions which accompany those engravings, the genuineness 

the Arabian pictur es is vindi cated. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



293 



brief notice, however, implies a very high degree of refinement in 
literature, not inferior, perhaps, to the finest specimens of modern 
typography.* 

But of all the fine arts which are cultivated by civilised nations, 
music is that to which the Arabians were most ardently attached ; the 
harp and other musical instruments were known so early as the time of 
the patriarch Job ; j- of the music of the Arabs of the Desert we know 
nothing certain ; Sir W. Jones suspects it to have been little more than 
a natural and tuneful recitation of their elegiac verses and love songs4 
In later times, when the fine arts were cultivated by the Arabians, 
music was cherished with the greatest delight ; and its professors were 
honoured in a peculiar manner by Almansur, Harun ar-Rashid, Abdur- 
rahman II. and other Khalifs. The latter, we have already seen, rode 
forth to meet and welcome the musician Zaryab : § and under this sove- 
reign's auspices was founded the celebrated school of music at Cordova, 
which afterwards produced so many illustrious professors.^ 

The Arabs attributed supernatural powers to music : of the effects 
produced by their most eminent performers, very extraordinary, but well 
attested narratives have been related ; which justify the remark which 
has often been made, that, like the celebrated Timotheus of old, they 
seem to have been able, at pleasure, by the touches of their lute, to 
raise or depress the passions of their masters. Three of the Arabian 
musicians are particularly distinguished. 

1. Ishaac Almausaly, a pupil of the school of Cordova, is considered 
by the orientals as the most celebrated musician, that ever flourished 
in the world : he was a native of Persia ; but, having resided almost 
entirely at Mousel, he derived his name of Almausaly or Moussali, from 
that place. Mahadi, the father of Harun-ar-Rashid, having accidentally 
heard Almausaly sing one of his compositions, accompanied by a lute, 

* Casiri, torn. ii. p. 9. f Job, ch. xxx. v. 31. 

J Works, vol. iii. p. 67. § See page 91, supra. 

^| Among the Arabian manuscripts in the Escurial, Casiri has described two casuistical treatises, 
the design of which is to prove the lawfulness of cultivating this most interesting of all the elegant 
arts and sciences. Bibl. Arab, torn. i.p. 483, col. 1, and p. 527, col. 2. 



294 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



on which instrument he pre-eminently excelled, was so charmed with 
the performance, that he carried him to Baghdad, and appointed him 
principal musician to the court ; an office, which he filled with universal 
applause, during the reigns of five successive Khalifs of the house of 
Al-Abbas, particularly that of Harun-ar-Rashid. This sovereign was 
so delighted with the talents of Almausaly, that the latter made one at 
every party of amusement given by the Khalif ; and of the effect of his 
musical powers, Ebn Khalikan has related the following remarkable 
instance : Harun, having quarrelled with his favourite mistress, Meridah, 
left her in a rage, and refused to see her again. The lady knew not in 
what manner to produce a reconciliation, and sunk into despair. In 
the mean time, the Vizir Jaafar, who had always been a friend to Me- 
ridah, sent for Almausaly ; and, giving him a song composed for the 
purpose, requested him to perform it with all the pathos he possessed. 
Almausaly obeyed : and such were the powers of his execution, that 
Harun, immediately bidding adieu to his anger, rushed into the pre- 
sence of his mistress ; and, taking all the blame of the quarrel upon 
himself, he entreated her to forgive his indiscretion, and bury what was 
past in eternal oblivion. Overjoyed with this sudden alteration in the 
Khalifs disposition, Meridah ordered ten thousand dirhams to be given 
to Jaafar, and an equal sum to Almausaly ; while Harun, not less 
pleased with their reconciliation than the lady, doubled the present to 
each.* \ 

2. Al-Farabi, whose universal attainments have already been briefly 
noticed,! among other accomplishments, eminently excelled in music, 
and has been styled the Arabian Orpheus. On his return from the pil- 
grimage to Mecca, he introduced himself, though a stranger, at the 
court of Saif Addaulet, Sultan of Syria, an eminent patron of literature 
and the sciences i musicians were accidentally performing, and he joined 
them. The prince, admiring his performance, requested to hear some 
composition of his own : he immediately took a piece from his pocket; 
and, the parts being distributed among the band, the first movement 
threw the prince and his courtiers into a fit of excessive laughter ; the 

* D'Herbelot, torn. ii. pp. 752, 753. Carlyle's Specimens, p. 40. f See p. 243, supra. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



295 



next dissolved them all into tears ; and the last lulled even the performers 
to sleep ! * 

3. Abu Muhammad, a musician of Baghdad, flourished in the third 
century of the Hijra, under the reign of the Khalif Wathik ; who was 
so highly charmed with one of his compositions, that he immediately 
testified his approbation of the performance, by throwing his own robe 
over the shoulders of Abu Muhammad, and ordering him a present of 
one hundred thousand dirhams.f 

Among the numerous treatises on music, preserved in the Escurial, 
two are particularly worthy of notice. The first is " the Elements of 
JMusic," by Al-Farabi: it treats on the principles of the art, the union 
of voices and instruments, and the various kinds of musical composi- 
tion, together with the musical notes of the Arabs, and upwards of 
thirty figures of their musical instruments. This elaborate work, Andres 
remarks, proves that the Arabians applied their mathematical knowledge 
to the improvement of this science ; and that, although they followed 
the doctrines of the Greeks, yet they did not embrace it without exa- 
mination, and had perhaps more correct ideas relative to the mechanical 
part of sounds, than their masters themselves possessed ; whose errors 
they corrected in various respects, while they supplied the deficiencies 
in their doctrine. £ The other musical work above referred to, is the 
first volume of" the great Collection of Songs," by Abu-lfaragius Ali 
Ben Hassan Ben Mohammed, a celebrated composer who flourished in 
the beginning of the third century of the Hijra. The entire work con- 
sisted of two volumes. § The volume, preserved in the Escurial, contains 
one hundred and fifty ariettas, the lives of fourteen celebrated musicians, 
and those of four eminent female singers, who were under the protec- 
tion of the Khalifs.^f 

But, marvellous as were the effects of Arabian music, it is to be 

* D'Herbelot, torn. ii. p. 17- 

■f Professor Carlyle has translated the beautiful little composition, whose author was thus royally 
reward' d. Specimens, p. 49, 50. % Casiri, torn. i. p. 347, col. !• Andres, t.xi. pp. 122-123. 

§ There is a copy of it extant, divided into four volumes, in the King's Library at Paris. 
% Casiri, torn. i. p. 347, col. 2. 



296 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



regretted that little is known with certainty, either of the different kinds 
of their melody, or of their rules for singing ; except that they had four 
principal modes or harmonic phrases, which they termed roots ; and to 
which they gave the names of different countries. These modes further 
had a certain number of derivatives, each adapted to one particular kind 
of poetry, or to the expression of one distinct passion. Thus the mode, 
termed Ishak, was that appropriated to love, and the Doughiah to 
grief: and their most learned accompaniments were confined to playing 
in the octave. There is a very striking resemblance between the Ara- 
bian gamut and that of the Italians, which renders it highly probable 
that the old mode of teaching music, by what is usually called sol-fa-ing, 
was borrowed from the Arabs, or Moors of Spain, whose notes are 
named, A la mi re ; B/a pe mi ; C sol fa ut, fyc* We are, at least, 
indebted to the Arabians for the invention of the lute, which they ac- 
counted the most beautiful of all musical instruments ; they also made 
use of the organ, flute, harp, tabor, and mandoline, a small species of 
guitar. This last mentioned instrument was a great favourite with the 
Arabian conquerors of Spain ; who appear not only to have introduced 
it, but also the custom of serenading their mistresses, still retained by 
the Spaniards ; on which occasion, the words of their songs, the airs of 
the music, and even the colour of their habits, were expressive of the 
triumph of the fortunate, or the despair of the rejected lover, t 



* La Borde, Essai sur la musique ancienne et moderne, torn. i. pp. 177> 182. Richardson's 
Dissertation, p. 285. -J- Ibid, p. 210. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 297 



CHAPTER III. 

ON THE MANNERS, CUSTOMS, AMUSEMENTS, GOVERNMENT, REVENUES, 
NAVAL AND MILITARY FORCE, &c. OF THE ARABIANS. 



Manners of the Spanish Arabs — Religion — Diet — Dress — Amusements — Titles of 
Honour — Government — Succession to the Crown — Revenues — Army — Military 
Tactics, and Marine. 

A strong similarity appears to have subsisted between the manners 
of the Moors in Spain and those of the natives of Arabia. Hence we 
find the same generous hospitality, the same high resentment of inju- 
ries, and, in domestic life, the same veneration for parents and for the 
aged, together with the same unqualified submission to the head of each 
family, which characterises the patriarchal times. But the manners of 
the Spanish Arabs were much softened by the cultivation of literature, 
the sciences, and the fine arts: and the following sketch of the manners 
of the inhabitants of the kingdom of Granada, drawn by the Arabian 
historian, Tbnu-l-Khatib, will perhaps afford a tolerably correct idea of 
the general manners and customs of the Moors in Spain. 

Islamism continued to be the religion of the Spanish Arabs, until 
they were compelled to embrace Christianity ; the inhabitants of Gra- 
nada are said, by their historian, to have been orthodox, tainted by no 
heresy, and of the sect of the Molekites. But, however rigid the first 
professors of Mohammed ism might have been, it appears that they gra- 
dually relaxed from the strict rules and precepts of the Koran. Abdur- 
rahman I., who united the regal and sacerdotal functions in his own 

Q q 



298 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



person, instituted various solemnities for the festival of Bairam ; horse- 
races, in progress of time, gave way to tournaments and banquets ; 
truces were succeeded by intermarriages between the Musulmans and 
Christians ; the native ferocity of the Arabians was softened by love ; 
the severity of fanaticism was corrected, while the dark mists of igno- 
rance were dispersed, by philosophy ; and the sciences, which, we have 
already seen, were cultivated to a high degree of perfection, were the 
natural result of civilization. But that devotedness to the commands of 
the Khalif, which characterised the Arabs in the east, was not obliterated 
by their transplantation to another climate : in Spain they were distin- 
guished for the implicit obedience which they paid to the mandates of 
their princes. 

Further, the Granadians were patient of labour, and exceedingly li- 
beral ; in person comely, of a middle stature, with small noses, clear 
complexions, and black hair. They spoke the Arabic language, with 
great elegance of diction, abounding with neatly-turned sententious 
remarks, though they are, at the same time, said to have been rather 
diffuse ; and, both in discussion and in argument, they were arrogant and 
opinionated. Most of their families were of foreign origin, and chiefly 
from Barbary. The citizens of Granada ate the finest wheaten bread 
throughout the year ; though the poorer classes and labourers were 
sometimes obliged, in the winter season, to be content with barley-bread, 
which, however, was very excellent. Fruits of every description they 
had in the greatest abundance, especially grapes ; the annual profit of 
which has been computed at fourteen thousand golden ducats ( aureij. 
Ample were their stores of dried fruits, such as figs, raisins, lemons, 
pomegranates, chesnuts, almonds, nuts, &c. and they also possessed the 
art of preserving grapes sound and juicy, from one season to another.* 
While the Moors retained that warlike character which introduced 
them into Spain, and enabled them to secure their conquests, they not 

* Ibnu-l Khatib, apud Casiri, torn. ii. pp. 257-259. The whole of this historian's chronology, 
and history of the Spanish and African Khalifs has been translated by the learned librarian of the 
Escurial, who has also inserted the Arabic text, — with the exception of a few verses and gramma- 
tical explanations. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



2<J9 



only did not lose the gallantry and love of chivalry for which the Arabs 
were distinguished ;* but they also improved and refined it to a degree 
which has justly rendered them celebrated throughout Europe, and 
which, it is now generally agreed, laid the foundations of that chival- 
rous spirit, which once prevailed universally, and some traces of which 
are still observable in the interior of Spain. From the Spanish ballad 
romances, which are either translated or imitated from the Moors, we 
may collect many particulars relative to the pursuits of the latter. 
These compositions, in a simple but pathetic manner, describe the con- 
versations of lovers, the disputes between rivals, or their wars with the 
Christians, — their feasts, — the sports of the ring and cane, — their bull- 
course, which they borrowed from the Spaniards, — their arms, and their 
devices, which generally were either a heart pierced with darts, a star 
directing a vessel, or the initial letter of the name of a favourite mistress ; 
and finally, their colours, each of which had a distinct signification ; 
yellow and black denoting grief ; — green, hope ; — blue, jealousy ; and 
the violet, or flame-colour, impassioned love.f Much of the chivalrous 
spirit and gallantry, for which the natives of Granada were so eminently 
conspicuous, is to be attributed to the softer sex, whose charms and 
manners appear to have been every way adapted to produce the tender 
passion. According to Ibnu-1-Khatib, the women of Granada were 
handsome, and mostly of a middle stature ; affable ; and suffered their 
hair to grow to a considerable length. They were lavish in the use of 
the most fragrant perfumes, and their teeth were beautifully white ; 
their gait was light and airy, their wit acute, and their conversation 
smart. In this age, the historian concludes, the vanity of the sex has 
carried the art of dressing themselves out with elegance, profusion, and 
magnificence, to such an excess, that it can no longer be called luxury, 
but has become almost a madness. £ Their dress consisted of the finest 
and most costly striped Persian or Turkish robes, either of linen, woollen, 

* On this subject, see Richardson's Dissertation, pp. 197-203. 

f Florian, Precis sur les Maures, pp. 112-117- Mr. Rodd's History of Charles the Great 
and Orlando, with his Collection of Spanish Ballads, contains numerous pleasing sketches of 
the Moorish customs, &c. above alluded to. £ Casiri, torn. ii. p. 529. 



300 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



silken, or cotton stuffs, a girdle, sword-belt, handkerchief, &c. : in 
winter, they wore an albornoz, or African cloke ; in summer, a fine 
white linen wrapper. Both sexes, particularly the women of rank, were 
passionately fond of decorating- themselves with hyacinths, chrysolites, 
emeralds, and other gems, together with ornaments of gold and precious 
stones ; and such was the variegated splendour of their appearance, 
when in the temples or mosques, that they have been compared to the 
flowers of spring in a beautiful meadow.* 

Among the diversions pursued by the Moors, we find hawking, 
hunting, f and horsemanship. In this latter accomplishment, they vied 
with the Arabs of the Desert : and the kings of Granada are said to 
have had a constant stock of nearly one hundred thousand horses for 
their own use, and for mounting their cavalry in time of war.J The 
Arabs greatly improved the breed of Andalusian horses ; and the 
Spaniards are indebted to them for the breed they now have. The 
hunting excursions of Abdurrahman III. were conducted on the most 
splendid scale ; twelve thousand horsemen usually attending him, who 
were accoutred with sword belts, and scymetars, embossed with gold. 
Dancing was another favourite amusement of the Spanish Arabs, and was 
enjoyed in the highest possible degree by the inhabitants of Granada, 
who were in the habit of retiring every autumn to their villas in v the 
vicinity of that city. To the Moors our forefathers were indebted for 
the morris dances, which anciently formed a part of their May-games. § 

Of the titles of honour, and other distinctions which obtained among 

* Ibid, pp. 257-259. Plates XLIII. to XLVI. of the " Arabian Antiquities of Spain," will 
convey to the reader some idea of the Moorish dress in its most splendid forms. 

-J- Casiri, t. i. p. 321, col. 1, 2, lias given a short account of two Arabian treatises, composed 
expressly on the subjects of hawking and hunting. The reader will find, in the work above re- 
ferred to, in Plates XLIII. and XLIV. delineations of Arabian boar and lion hunts, executed after 
the original pointings in the Alhamra. 

X Casiri, t. i. p. 338, col. 2. 

§ Casiri, t. ii. p. 259 Mr. Douce has given a very curious and entertaining " Dissertation on 
the ancient English Morris Dance," in his Illustrations of Shakspeare, vol. ii. pp. 431-482. See 
also Steevens" and Reed's edit, of Shakspeare, vol. xi. pp. 434-445, for an account, by the late Mr. 
Toilet, of the morris dance ; of which both works contain illustrative engravings. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 301 

the Moors, we know little with certainty. Their police was confided 
to judges called Alamines, (or faithful men as the Arabic term implies), 
who took cognizance of the lowest causes, in which the matter at issue 
did not exceed two shillings : these officers also served as a kind of appa- 
ritors to the court of justice termed Zavalchen, to whose tribunal causes of 
greater moment were confided ; the judges of this court decided ques- 
tions between the Jews and Moors, and also exercised notarial powers, 
no other persons among the Saracens being allowed to draw up public 
instruments. Above these were the Alcaydes, or Alcaldes, governors 
of cities, whose names and powers are still retained by the Spaniards. 
The title of Sharif was peculiarly honourable, being borne only by those 
who were descended from Mahomet. The TIajibs or Vizirs were the 
prime ministers of the Khalifs, and the governors of provinces were styled 
Amirs or Emirs : and the sovereigns, who assumed the title of Khalifs, 
that is, successors or vicars to the prophet, generally added that of 
Amiru-1 Mumanin, or Commander of the Faithful.* 

Although, strictly speaking, the Spanish Arabs had no orders of nobility 
among them, yet there were numerous individuals of certain tribes, whose 
bravery, opulence, or power, had raised them to distinction. Such were 
the Abencerrages, the Zegris, and the Gomeles, who flourished in the 
decline of the Mahometan empire in Spain ; and whose jealousies and 
feuds, contributed in some degree to accelerate its fall. At the com- 
mencement of the siege of Granada, they amounted, according to 
Pedraza, to five thousand nobles, of whom scarcely three hundred re- 
mained at the capitulation of that city, the rest having perished in duels, 
skirmishes, and sorties. It appears, however, that these illustrious 
families, as well as the other Moors, had their respective armorial 
bearings, as may be collected from the Ballad Romances already re- 
ferred to.f The favourite ensign of the Moors seems to have been a 
key, as the emblem of power : it was the armorial bearing of the An- 

* Du Cange, Gloss, torn. i. et vi. and D'Herbelot, in vocibus. Selden's Titles of Honour, -in 
his works, vol- iii. pp. 188, 198 and 1055, 1056. Our English word admiral is of Arabic origin, 
having been introduced from the French, who brought it home from the crusades in the twelfth 
century. -J- See p. 299, supra. 



302 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



dalusian Moors, who bore it on their standards as soon as they entered 
Spain ; and it appears to have been placed as an armorial ensign over 
the gate of the Alhamra. But the key, though a favourite symbol, 
was not their only device. In the battle-piece, copied from a Moorish 
picture in that celebrated palace,* the shields of the combatants display 
different bearings : on one, three doves are embossed ; the ensign of 
the other it is difficult to decipher. According to Pedraza, Muham- 
madu-bnu-1 Aamar, King of Granada, had for his standard a red banner, 
with the favourite motto of the Moslems — " There is no conqueror but 
God ; " f and, for his arms, two lions crowned, supporting the royal 
shield. 

The government of the Arabs in Spain was a military despotism, 
ameliorated, however, by customs and manners, which made it prefer- 
able to the uncontrolled tyranny of their eastern progenitors. The 
throne was elective : but the reigning monarch usually had the oppor- 
tunity of transmitting it to his posterity, by associating in his power a 
favourite son, by conciliating the leading men in the state, and attach- 
ing them to the interests of his intended successor. Amid the various 
conspiracies, however, which were formed, and the revolutions which 
consequently took place in the succession to the throne, during the 
decline of the Mahometan empire in Spain, a prince of the royal race 
was uniformly chosen to sway the Moorish sceptre. The sovereigns 
were all inaugurated with the greatest pomp : and their functions chiefly 
consisted in the administration of justice in their halls of state, sur- 
rounded by their great men. The Koran was their sole code of juris- 
prudence : and the Khalif, as the supreme head of their religion, inter- 
preted its precepts and maxims in the presence of the people, whose 
acclamations of joy, or murmurs of discontent, presaged a reign of long 
or short duration. The administration of justice was also delegated to 
the cadis and muftis, whose decisions were mostly verbal, and executed 

* See it delineated and described at large, in the " Arabian Antiquities of Spain," Plates XIII. 
to XVII. The inscription over it is translated in the Appendix, No. 1. infra. 

■f- This motto occurs repeatedly on a scarlet shield, in one of the beautiful mosaics which adorn 
the Alhamra, See Plate LII. of the work above referred to. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



303 



on the spot, except the matter in litigation was of great importance, in 
which case an appeal lay to the Alfaqui, or grand judge. The gate of 
law or justice in the Alhamra, was the spot where causes were thus so- 
lemnly heard by the sovereign, and sentences pronounced accordingly. 
It ought not to be forgotten, that the Khalifs of Cordova were so cor- 
rect and impartial in the administration of justice to all their subjects, 
that they permitted the Christians, (who could not be judged by the 
laws of the Koran, of which they were necessarily ignorant), to have 
their own special court of judicature. This tribunal was under the pre- 
sidency of a count, to whose jurisdiction all the Christians under the 
Khalifs dominion were subject ; and took cognizance of nearly all 
matters both civil and criminal ; M. La Borde has stated, that in the 
year 861 the office of Count was held by a Lord, named Servando, and 
in 872 by another who was called Adulfo : the former pronounced 
judgment in a suit relative to the execution of a contract of sale, and 
the latter in an action for slander which had been brought against one 
A bad-Samson, t 

Although, as above remarked, the Spanish Arabs had no hereditary 
nobility, there nevertheless were certain families, which, by their con- 
nections, and their talents, were so powerful, that, to all effectual pur- 
poses, they enjoyed the privileges and exercised the prerogatives of a 
powerful aristocracy. Like the ancient Arabs, however, these chieftains 
indulged in private feuds ; which, though they were suppressed under 
the vigorous administration of the greatest Khalifs, continued to increase 
towards the close of the Moorish dominion in Spain. Among these 
feuds, the rival tribes of the ZegrTs and Abencerrages were eminently 
distinguished ; and, by their intestine commotions and mutual slaughter, 
contributed, perhaps more than any thing else, to the final capture of 
Granada. 

The annual revenues of the Khalifs, in the reign of Abdurrahman III. 
the greatest sovereign that ever sat on the throne of Moorish Spain, have 
been estimated at twelve million nine hundred and forty-five thousand 
golden dinars, equivalent to more than five millions and a half sterling : 

* La Borde, Voyage Pittoresque de l'Espagne, torn. ii. p. xxxix. 



304 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



they were derived, first from a tenth of all produce whatsoever, which 
was paid in kind, and secondly from the Almoxarifazgo and the Alca- 
vala or Alcabala, two taxes which still retain their Arabic appellations. 
The former amounted to twelve and a half per cent., or one-eighth part 
of every commodity which was either imported into the kingdom, or 
exported thence; its collectors were termed Almoxariffazka.* The 
Alcavala consisted of one-tenth part of every species of property, when 
transferred by sale ; and a tribute of one-fifth was levied on all pro- 
perty belonging to Christians and Jews. These taxes were levied on 
all the provinces which fell under the sceptre of the Khalifs, whether 
by succession or conquest.f Such were the ordinary sources of revenue : 
but, in preparing for war, erecting colleges, bridges, palaces, or other 
royal edifices, extraordinary contributions were levied, denominated 
gabellas, which produced considerable sums. How Spain could fur- 
nish the means of these extraordinary expenses, is a question for the 
political economist to decide. The fact, however, is certain. Spain, it 
has been well remarked, had been the Mexico of the Romans: she 
was more prodigal of her revenues to her eastern conquerors, which 
probably exceeded the united income of all the western monarchies. 
Her population, notwithstanding the devastation of civil wars, was on 
the same grand scale : she boasted eighty great cities, three hundred 
of the second and third order, and smaller towns and villages innu- 
merable. Commerce, indeed, seems to have been the fund which sup- 
plied her treasures, and sustained her population. These facts, which 
are related by Arabian writers, give us a clue to the hitherto unex- 
plained magnificence of the Khalifs ; and exhibit those secret founda- 
tions, on which they erected their claims to gratitude from the professors 
and admirers of literature, sciences, and the arts.J 

The Khalif Alhakam was the first of the Arab sovereigns who or- 
ganized an army in Spain, regularly paid his soldiers, and formed 
magazines of military stores. Almansur, we have already seen,§ was 

* Ebn Alabar, apud Casiri, torn. ii. p. 39, col. 1. 

f Cardonne, torn. i. pp. 338, et seq. Ducange, torn. i. in voc. Jacob's South of Spain, p. 280. 
J Lit. Hist, of 14th and 15th Cent. p. 8S. § Vide supra, p. 113. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN 



305 



a very rigid disciplinarian. In Granada, the only soldiers by profession 
were the royal Moorish guards ; but the sovereigns of that kingdom 
had a constant supply of one hundred thousand horses for mounting 
their cavalry, and frequently mustered upwards of two hundred thousand 
soldiers, in actual pay, for the purpose of making war upon the Chris- 
tians.* The command of the native Spanish soldiers was usually given 
to some relative of the monarch, or other confidential person : and their 
arms consisted of a short coat of mail, a light helmet, Arabian horse- 
furniture, a leathern buckler, and a slender spear. The mercenaries, 
who were born in Africa, though divided into various companies under 
their respective leaders, were under the command in chief of a noble 
Moor, who was generally related to the African sovereign ; these were 
armed with a peculiar kind of knotted staves, or rather pikes, termed 
amras, which they drove furiously against the enemy in battle. f 
From a review of the various conflicts between the Arabs and the 
Christians, particularly the celebrated battle of Akab, or according to 
the Spaniards, of Las Navas de Toloza, (fought on the 16th of July, 
A. D. 1212$), it should seem that the Moorish tactics consisted in little 
more than engaging with the enemy, each man fighting for himself, 
until the strongest or bravest remained masters of the field. Beyond 
this, indeed, the military knowledge of the Spaniards was not much ad- 
vanced : but their infantry was superior to that of the Moors, inasmuch as 
they could both attack, and resist a charge, in a body ; while the latter, 
unaccustomed to such a mode of assault, were scarcely of any service. 
This defect, however, was amply compensated by the superiority of the 
Moorish cavalry, which was composed of horsemen selected from the 

* Casiri, torn. i. p. 338, col. 2. They did not, however, confine themselves merely to cavalry: 
for, in the battle fought before Badajos, A. D. 1087, between Alphonso XI. King of Castile, and 
Yusuf, the sovereign of Morocco, the Moors used camels which they brought from Africa ; at the 
sight of which the Spanish horse being affrighted, retreated instead of advancing against the enemy, 
and threw the Christian army into utter confusion. Cardonne, torn. ii. p. 194. He adds, from 
an Arabian historian, that the Moors equipped the camels in such a manner, as to make the bunch 
or hump on their backs appear much larger than the natural size ; and that this stratagem greatly 
contributed to the success of the battle. 

f Ibid, torn. ii. pp. 257, 258. \ See p. 134, supra. Cardonne, torn. ii. p. 327. 

r r 



306 THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 

best families ; who were mounted on excellent chargers, to the manage- 
ment of which they were trained from infancy, and, darting on their 
opponents with the velocity of lightning, they wielded the sabre or the 
lance with equal activity. Having made impetuous charges, they 
would suddenly flee, if severely pressed, and, returning with equal 
speed, would often obtain the victory that appeared to have been lost. 
The Christians, however, had one great advantage : they were com- 
pletely cased in steel, while their opponents were protected only by 
steel helmets and breast-plates : with respect to the Moorish infantry, 
it may be said to have beeen almost naked, the men being armed only 
with pikes.* But, though the Arabians were upon the whole inferior 
to the Christians in military tactics, their chemical knowledge gave 
them, during part of their conquests, an incalculable advantage over the 
latter. We have already seen f that they were acquainted with the 
composition of gunpowder ; and we know from various authorities that 
they employed artillery. Casiri has cited two Arabic historians, who 
prove that it was both known and used by the Spanish Arabs in the 
latter part of the 12th, and at the former part of the 13th century : and 
has given extracts from two contemporary Spanish writers, who describe 
their destructive engines as being certain iron tubes or mortars, which 
emitted thunder and fire.J 

To the Arabs, then, we may ascribe the glory or the infamy of in- 
venting ordnance : of the form of their cannon, it is impossible to speak 
with precision at this distance of time ; but the annexed cut will per- 
haps convey some idea of its shape. 




It is an ancient cannon, forming a threshold to the entrance of the 
Moorish castle at Velez Malaga, where our sketch was taken by the 

* Florian, Precis Historique, pp. 73, 74. + Supra, p. 250. J Casiri, torn. ii. pp. 7, 8. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



307 



author of the Arabian Antiquities of Spain, in June 1802 : it is broken 
off at both ends, and is composed of ivrought iron* The whole thick- 
ness of side of the cannon, at the left end, is one foot and one sixteenth 
of a foot, and diminishes a very little at the opposite extremity against 
the wall. At the time just mentioned, the upper surface was smooth 
and in good order ; but the lower part, which was buried in the clay, 
was rapidly decaying by rust, and by this time, perhaps, the relic of 
Moorish antiquity, above delineated, may no longer be in existence. 

We learn from the Arabian chronicles, that at a very early period 
they had a naval armament, and that about the year A. D. 750, the 
emir or vice-roy Yusuf Alfareo, caused a squadron to be destroyed, on 
account of the revolt of the admiral Amer Alcora'ichita. There was 
another constructed in the port of Algec^ras, under the reign of Abdur- 
rahman II. which was for some time the most formidable fleet in the 
Mediterranean. The Arabian navy began to decline in the year 813, 
after having suffered very severely in an engagement with the Count of 
Ampurias, and still more after it had fought the squadron of the King 
Don Ordoho I. in the straights of Gibraltar. At length, the squadrons of 
Charlemagne, as well as of the kings of Arragon and Portugal, gra- 
dually seized the maritime forces of the Arabians, until they were totally 
annihilated after the conquest of Algecjras, Seville, and Almeria.f 

* In modern Spain, through an unaccountable oversight on the part of the government, the 
cannon are made of brass, because copper happens to be abundant in that country : whereas, if 
this metal were sold, and its purchase money applied to the procuring of iron, they could be ob- 
tained at one-fifth of the expense 1 See Jacob's Travels in the South of Spain, p. 77- 

+ La Borde, Voyage Historique, torn. ii. p. xl. 



308 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



CONCLUSION. 

What are the obligations of Modern Europe to the Arabs ? 

It has often been the lot of men, whose talents and researches have 
conferred the greatest benefits on mankind, to have their labours un- 
dervalued, or their objects misunderstood by their contemporaries ; 
although posterity has in many instances failed not to render ample 
justice to their important services. Something like this has been the 
treatment of the Arabs ; whose zeal for the cultivation of letters, in- 
stead of obtaining for them the gratitude of modern ages, has not only 
been forgotten, except by a comparatively few eminent oriental scho- 
lars ; but the Arabs have even been charged with having caused the 
decay and the corruption of literature. At the revival of letters, it was 
the fashion for the literati — Petrarch himself not excepted — to regard 
them as the corrupters of the sciences, as a ruthless, warlike nation, 
hostile to polite literature. These heavy accusations have been repeated 
by later writers, but, with how little justice, a slight perusal of the 
preceding pages will readily evince. The protection granted by many 
of the Khalifs to letters, — the honours and rewards they conferred on 
literary men — the very great number of their writings — together with 
their numerous schools and professors — and the magnificence of their 
architecture — all together may justify us in placing them nearly in the 
same line with the Greeks and Romans. The two last-mentioned na- 
tions, it is readily admitted, did excel the Arabs ; though these may 
venture to contest the palm of superiority with the Romans, who were 
eminent in literature only, while the former successfully cultivated 
medicine, natural history, astronomy, and the mathematics. But the 
pre-eminent excellence of the Romans in polite literature, — their Livy, 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



309 



Cicero, Horace, Virgil, and Terence, — almost make us forget the merit 
of the Saracens in cultivating the sciences. 

We have already seen with what ardour the Arabians prosecuted the 
study of literature and the sciences : but we have not yet shewn the in- 
fluence of their literature on that of the moderns. It remains, therefore, 
that we attempt to state the amount of European obligation to them, 
not only as it respects the influence of Arabian literature on the revival 
and cultivation of letters and the sciences, but also for those inventions, 
for which we are peculiarly indebted to the sagacity and industry of the 
Arabs. 

While literature, the arts, and sciences, were most successfully culti- 
vated by them, Europe was enveloped in the grossest darkness, parti- 
cularly from the seventh to the eleventh century : ecclesiastical studies 
alone were prosecuted ; the Greeks could no longer read Euclid or 
Ptolemy ; and the Latins were ignorant even of their ancient language. 
The schools of the Christians re-echoed only with questions relative to 
the Gregorian chant, or disputes relative to the paschal cycle for the 
observance of Easter ; while the Arabs in Africa, in Spain, and in the 
kingdoms of Naples and Sicily, cultivated all the sciences, and preserved 
the remains of Grecian knowledge. From this state of barbarism, 
Europe was delivered by the Moors of Africa and Spain.* 

During the ninth century, according to the unanimous testimony of 
historians, almost every science was cultivated in Spain : the natives of 
that country, subdued by the powerful arms of the Musalmans, had no 
other solace than to adopt and cultivate the literature of their conque- 
rors. In a short time, indeed, they devoted themselves so ardently to 
Arabic studies, that Alvaro of Cordova, who flourished in the middle 
of the ninth century, had some reason to complain of the excessive 
Arabism of his countrymen, whose zeal for the learning and language 
of the Moslems ultimately caused the Latin language to fall into obli- 
vion, and led some of them to renounce Christianity.! At length, the 

* Andres, t. ii. pp. 100, et seq. 

f It seems that they not only adopted the Arabic language in their common discourse, but 
also studied the elegancies of Arabian composition. — " Arabico eloquio sublimati, volumina 



310 THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 

Arabic language became so prevalent, that John of Seville, who was 
not more celebrated for the extent of his knowledge than for the reputed 
sanctity of his life, found it necessary to publish the Scriptures, with a 
Catholic commentary, in Arabic, for the benefit of his countrymen. 
And, some years after, a collection of canons was formed in Arabic, for 
the use of the Spanish church, which is still preserved among the ma- 
nuscripts in the library of the Escurial.* 

But, though this literary intercourse between the Arabs and the Spa- 
niards proved, in some instances, fatal to the religion of the latter, it 
was, upon the whole, beneficial to the community at large ; and hence 
it may be considered as the foundation of modern literature. In the tenth 
century, which is peculiarly stigmatised as the age of barbarism and 
ignorance, Spain could boast of several distinguished mathematicians ; 
among whom were Aiton, bishop of Ausona, (Vique in Catalonia), 
Lupito, of Barcelona, who excelled in astronomy, and one Joseph, who 
distinguished himself in arithmetic ; and such was their celebrity, that 
Frenchmen, Italians, Englishmen, and Germans resorted to Spain, in 
order that they might there study the exact sciences. 

The first philosopher known to have visited the peninsula for this 
purpose, is the celebrated Gerbert, better known by the name of Sil- 
vester II. his learning and talents having raised him to the papal see. 
This extraordinary man, impelled by a thirst for science, quitted his 
home and country at an early age, and, amid many vicissitudes, travelled 
over great part of Europe, for the acquisition of knowledge ; but it was 
Spain alone could teach him what he wished to know. At Cordova, 
his mathematical talent, and his thirst for science were amply gratified :f 

Caldceorum (thus Alvaro frequently terms the Arabs) avidissime eructant legem suam 

nesciunt Christiani, et linguam propriam non adventant Latini ; ita ut ex omni Christi col- 
legia vix inveniatur vnus ex milleno hominum numero, qui salutatorias fratri possit rationa- 
biliter dirigere literas. Et reperias absque numero multiplices turbas, qui erudite chaldaicam 
verborum pompas explicet, fyc." Andres, t. ii. pp. 100, 101. 

* No. 1618. It is executed in Cufic characters, and was finished A. D. 1087. Casiri, torn. i. 
pp. 541,542. 

t Pezii Thesaurus Anecdotorum, Tom. I. Pars II. p. 147. This work contains a mathematical 
piece of Gerbert's. Middeldorpf, de Instit. Lit. Arab. p. 65. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



311 



and, being not less ready to communicate, than eager to acquire know- 
ledge, he founded two schools on his return, one at Bobbio, in Italy, 
and another at Rheims, in France ; and, as we have already seen,* was 
the first who introduced the knowledge and use of Arabic cyphers into 
western Europe. Both the schools founded by Gerbert, were nume- 
rously attended, and contributed to give a new turn to the study of 
philosophy. The celebrated Fulbert, bishop of Chartres, was a pupil 
of Gerbert's, and was indebted to him for all his mathematical know- 
ledge. Elevated to the papacy, through the influence of his pupil, the 
Emperor, OthoIII. Silvester II. continued to evince his love for learn- 
ing, by his almost unbounded expense in procuring manuscripts, and 
in his generosity to scholars. So various was his knowledge, especi- 
ally of the works of nature, and so marvellous in the eyes of that igno- 
rant age, that it was deemed super-human, and ascribed to diabolical 
agency ! His letters, of which one hundred and sixty-one are still ex- 
tant, contain many curious particulars relative to natural philosophy ; 
and his writings unquestionably contributed greatly to dissipate the 
darkness of the ninth and tenth centuries. f 

The example of Gerbert, and the honours he deservedly acquired by 
his learning and talents, induced many studious men to follow his steps 
into those countries where learning was to be attained : to be master 
of Arabic, to understand books written in that language, and to trans- 
late them into another more generally used, — were studies almost indis- 
pensable to those who aspired to the character of literati, and to promote 
the revival of science. For many centuries, says Montucla,$ all who 
enjoyed the greatest reputation for mathematical skill, drew their know- 
ledge from the Arabs. Gherardo di Cremona, among other Italians, 
learnt philosophy, medicine, and astronomy, at Toledo, and translated 
into Latin the Almagest of Ptolemy, and the medical works of Rhazes 

* Page 252 supra. 

t Brucker, Historia Critica Philosophise, torn. iii. pp. 646 — 650. An interesting sketch of 
the life and literary talents of Gerbert, is given in Mr. Berington's Literary History of the Middle 
Ages, pp. 202 — 216. 

% Hist, de Mathematiques, tora. i. Part III. Liv. I. §. 3. pp. 502—505. 



312 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



and Avicenna.* Among the English who visited Spain in the eleventh 
century, Adelard, a Benedictine monk of Bath, was one of the most 
celebrated : having acquired the knowledge of mathematics and phy- 
sics, among the Arabs, he translated Euclid's Elements, and other 
Greek writings, into the Latin language. In the following century, 
Daniel Morley, a native of Norfolk, and a student in the universities 
of Oxford and Paris, visited Spain, and learned the mathematics and 
Arabic at Toledo, f In Germany, Otho, of Frisingen, and the Emperor 
Frederic II. in Italy, either translated, or procured translations to be 
made, of numerous Arabian manuscripts. 

The first school of medicine, formed after the revival of letters, was 
that of Salerno, in the kingdom of Naples ; which was an Arabian 
school. The medical school ofMontpelier derived its origin also from 
the same source ; and, until the 16th century, a few books of Hippo- 
crates and Galen, which had been preserved by the Arabs, constituted 
almost the whole of their medical libraries.^ The Greeks, themselves 
did not disdain to learn the healing art from the Arabs, and the Jews, 
who were distinguished for their medical skill, frequented the Arab 
schools in Spain. 

Astronomy is indebted to the Spanish Arabs for its revival, which 
M. Bailly attributes to the translation of the works of Muhammad 
Fargani. Alfonso X. King of Castille, who has immortalized himself 
by his cultivation of this science, received his knowledge from the most 
eminent astronomers of his day, whether Arabs, Jews, or Christians, 
particularly the first, whom his liberality induced to settle at Toledo. 
The astronomical tables, which bear his name, greatly contributed to 
promote the knowledge of the heavenly bodies. § 

Our illustrious countryman, Roger Bacon, whose writings demonstrate 
that he penetrated the secrets of nature at the very time when a thick 

* Tiraboschi, torn. iii. lib. iv. c. 5. pp. 295 — 297 (4to. ed. Napoli 1/77)- 
f Brucker, Hist. Crit. Philos. torn. iii. p. 682. 
X Haller, Bibliotheca Medicines, torn. i. p. 426. 

§ Lalande, Astronomie, torn. i. p. 143. Andres, t. ii. pp. 118 — 127, bas given an interesting 
account of the astronomical pursuits of Alfonso X.. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



313 



veil obscured the sciences, studied chemistry, physics, astronomy, 
medicine, and optics, in Arabic manuscripts. He cites the work of 
Alhazen above-noticed* on optics ; and it is also highly probable, that 
he derived from Arabian sources those ideas, which led him to the dis- 
covery of gun-powder, with whose composition he certainly was ac- 
quainted long before its supposed invention by Berchthold Schwartz. f 
Vitellio, who acquired considerable reputation for his optical know- 
ledge, merely commented upon the work of Alhazen, which he arranged 
in a more lucid order. Leonard of Pisa introduced into Italy a more 
extensive knowledge of Algebra and of figures, which he had acquired 
from Arabian masters ; the celebrated Arnold, of Villanova, learned 
from them in Spain, whatever he knew in physics, astronomy, and me- 
dicine ; and, to mention no more, Fahricius ab Aquapendente, who 
lived many centuries after, acknowledges himself indebted to the Arabs 
for most of his chirurgical knowledge. £ Notwithstanding the severity 
of some of Abulcasis's operations, Haller is stated by Andres to have 
recommended his book as a classical work.§ 

Huet || has asserted that Descartes was indebted to the Arabs for his 
celebrated metaphysical principle, — Quicquid potest cogitari, potest 
esse. Bailly^F affirms, that Alpetragius (orNureddin Petrucci)** opened 
the way for Kepler's discovery of the elliptical orbits of planets. Our 
learned countryman, Boyle, had recourse to the profound orientalist, 
Dr. Hyde, in order that he might draw from their proper sources the 
chemical treasures of the east, ft I n short, without exaggerating the 

* See p. 257 supra. 

f Morhof, Polyhistor. t. ii. 1. ii. c. 38. § 3. Henry's Hist, of Britain, vol. viii. pp. 204, 205. ^ 
X Dutens, Recherches, torn. ii. p. 63, 8vo. edit. 

§ Andres, t. ii. p. 138. The passage of Haller, referred to by Andres, the author has in vain 
attempted to verify. 

|| Censura Philosophise Cartesianas, ch. i. Astronomie Moderne, torn. i. pp. 243, 244. 

** He was a Christian by birth, who embraced Mohammedism, but retained his family name. 
The MS. of his Treatise on the Sphere, in which his theory of the Planets is developed, is pre- 
served in the library of the Escurial. Casiri, Bijbl. Arab. torn. i. p. 396. col. I. 

ft Hyde, Syntagma Dissertationum, vol. i. Prolegomena, pp. xvii. xviii. 



314 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



labours of the Arabs, it may be stated, that we are indebted to them 
for the revival of all the exact and natural sciences ; and that the in- 
fluence of that revival extended itself to ecclesiastical studies, and to 
jurisprudence. 

It is well known, that what is called scholastic theology may be 
traced up to the second century of the Christian asra; and, though 
from that time downward some teachers of it are to be found among 
divines, yet it was not until the writings of Aristotle and his commen- 
tators were diffused over Europe through the medium of translations 
from the Arabic, that scholasticism generally prevailed. Happily, 
however, amid all the extravagant subjects which presented themselves 
to discussion, the piety or the wisdom of the schoolmen preserved 
them from adopting those impious opinions too conspicuous in the 
Arabian school, which may perhaps be traced back to their Grecian 
source, and by which the power of the Deity was arraigned, and his 
providence disputed in the government of the world.* It ought, how- 
ever, to be recollected, that scholasticism, with all its endless subtleties, 
was chiefly cultivated by the French and Italians, while the native 
Spaniards held it in little esteem, and profitably availed themselves of 
the knowledge of the Arabs in astronomy, the mathematics, jurispru- 
dence, and other useful sciences. Al Shafei, who is celebrated as a 
leader of the Sonnite sect, had reduced the canon law of the Musalmans 
into a regular system, two centuries before the Christian schools were 
possessed of a body of canon law. In the ninth century, the States of 
Arragon framed the code, denominated the Fuero Sohrarbe, in com- 
piling which they consulted the Arabian jurisprudence with much 
advantage ; and the codes of Castille and Barcelona, framed in the 
following centuries, have derived much of their value from the same 
source. 

* The rise and progress of scholastic philosophy are concisely but ably traced in Dr. Enfield's 
History of Philosophy, vol, ii. pp. 352—398. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



315 



The preceding pages have shewn with what zeal the Arabs culti- 
vated the sciences of the Greeks, and how important their influence 
was on the revival of the study of the sciences : it is however worthy 
of remark, that they never translated any of the great poets. Even 
Homer, whose poems had been translated into the Syriac language so 
early as the reign of Hariin Arrashid, was never transfused into Arabic : 
and, much as the Arabian muse delighted in the themes of love and 
wine, she was an entire stranger to the effusions of Sappho and Ana- 
creon, and, indeed, to all the poets, orators, and critics of Greece ; but 
this deficiency in the literature of the Arabs may readily be accounted 
for. When the volumes of Grecian learning were communicated to the 
Arabians, they were repelled from its poetry at once, by their religion, 
and their taste. Those beautiful mythological fables, so familiar and 
interesting to all classical readers, were abomination and pollution in 
the eyes of a faithful Moslem : hence the Arabs could not form their 
taste for polite literature on the pure models of the Greeks, but con- 
tinued to regulate it by rules more consonant to the sentiments and 
taste of the Asiatics, from whom they were originally derived. 

Notwithstanding the peculiarities of the Arabian poetry have con- 
curred to render it unpopular until later times, the obligation we owe 
to the Arabs for the introduction of rhyme, is of too pleasing a nature 
not to be gratefully acknowledged. A Gothic origin has been assigned 
to it, and also to romantic fiction,* (which latter is probably of Breton 
descent) ; but the weight of evidence, it is conceived, will be found in 
favour of the Arabs. It is, indeed, very possible, that the Goths, at the 

* The Gothic origin of Romances is ably supported by the late Bishop Percy, in his " Essay 
on Ancient Metrical Romances," at the beginning of the 3d vol. of his u Reliques of Ancient 
English Poetry," in opposition to the hypothesis of Warton, who deduces it from the Arabs in a 
"Dissertation on the Origin of Romantic Fiction in Europe," in vol. i. of the " History of Eng 
lish Poetry." The Breton descent of Romance, was first suggested by Mr. Leyden, in his Intro- 
duction to the (( Complaynt of Scotland," An able summary of these hypotheses is given in vol. f. 
of Mr. Ellis's " Specimens of Early English Romances," pp. 27 — 41, and in Mr. Dunlop's 
" History of Fiction," vol. i. pp. 130—155. 



316 THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 

time of their first entrance into Europe, from the east, might have 
brought with them the use of rhyme, which was prevalent among the 
orientals : but the essential and ancient form of versification, which was 
adopted among the Teutonic nations, has been discovered among the 
Scandinavians ; and that form is alliteration, not rhyme. The same 
consonants are there repeated at the beginning of words, and not the 
same sounds at the end. The Nibelungen, a poem written in the early 
part of the thirteenth century, is composed in distichs that rhyme toge- 
ther, and nearly in the same maimer as French verse ; but the same 
poem, as it has been discovered in the Icelandic traditions, and which 
was composed in the ninth or tenth century, is not in rhyme* 

In the northern languages of Europe consonants abound, and hold 
by far the principal place, while vowels are used in the south : hence, 
alliteration, which is the repetition of consonants, is the ornament of 
the northern languages, as assonance, or rhyme in the vowels only, is 
the peculiar characteristic of all the popular songs in the languages of 
southern Europe ; although Spain is the only country where it has 
been subjected to certain rules. Rhyme, however, which is essential 
to every species of Arabian poetry, and which was combined by the 
Arabs in various ways in order to please the ear, was introduced into 
the Provencal language by the troubadours, and with the same play 
upon the sounds. The most common form of Arabic poetry is that of 
distichs. in which every second verse rhymes together throughout the 
strophe, or through an entire poem. Such is the most ancient form of 

* Sismondi, Litterature du Midi de l'Europe, torn. i. pp. 100, 101. M. Sisraondi has given 
the following specimens of the alliterations thus substituted for rhyme, from a German imitation, 
by Fouque. 

Hell verAeissen 
iZat's mein oheim, 

Kurz mein Zeben jfifuhn mein Lust ; 

-Rasch mein rache, 

Mauh. der ausgang, 

Fliessend blut im Ni/fo<ngenstam." 

This extract, it must be confessed, would have been more to the point in question, had it been 
given in the original Icelandic language. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



317 



Spanish, as well as of Provencal poetry. Very frequently also, in the 
productions of the Arabian muse, the second verse of each distich ter- 
minates with the same word ; and a similar repetition was employed 
by the Provencal bards It would exceed the limits necessarily assigned 
to this sketch, to trace the structure of the Provencal verse, which evi- 
dently marks its Arabian origin : but this may further be satisfactorily 
accounted for, from the union of the counties of Provence and Barce- 
lona in the close of the tenth century, which union subsisted for two 
hundred and thirteen years under a series of wise and pacific princes. 

During this period, the arts and sciences of the Arabs were in the 
greatest repute ; poets and literati were in the habit of passing from 
the courts of the petty Moorish princes to those of Christian princes ; 
and thus the taste for Moorish gallantry and Moorish refinements was 
gradually communicated. Like the Arabian poetry, the effusions of 
the Provencal bards have been divided into amatory, historical, satiri- 
cal; and didactic : but their most agreeable, and upon the whole their 
most useful performances, which most clearly shew the Arabian origin 
of Provencal poetry, it is difficult to arrange under any one class ; since 
they occasionally discuss every subject that can present itself. These 
are their tensons, or alternate couplets of contest and altercation, 
which the rival troubadours exhibited before royal and brilliant au- 
diences, and advanced themselves in their art, while they give rise to 
much pleasing discussion. Various were the subjects, which they were 
required to treat in these contests : sometimes they expatiated on the 
different qualities by which a lover can render himself most worthy of 
his mistress ; at others, in what respects a knight passes his equals, 
or which is the greatest affliction, the loss of a lover by death, or by 
infidelity : the question, however, whether amatory or chivalrous, was 
decided by the audience or the judges.* Similar to these were the 
plays of wit, and the poetical combats, so much in fashion among the 
Arabians, that there is scarcely a single poet of eminence who does not 
relate some particulars that happened at such contests. The Biblio- 
theque Orientate of D'Herbelot abounds in similar witty sallies and 

* Sismondi, torn. i. pp. 92, 93. Andres, torn. ii. pp. 311 — 313. 



318 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



repartees : and in the library of the Escurial, there is preserved a very 
carious manuscript, containing not fewer than eight hundred epigrams 
on one subject, composed and uttered by Salaheddln and Tageddin at a 
tenson, or poetical contest.* In the Silken Vest -f of Abu Baker, a 
native of Valentia, there are preserved numerous elegant poems deli- 
vered by Abu Jahia, son of the King of Toledo, and Almotammed, 
King of Cordova, in their contest for the honour of being Prince of the 
Poets. 

From the Spanish Arabs, the Christian natives of Spain adopted the 
practice of employing jongleurs, or players on instruments, who accom- 
panied the poets ; and the Spaniards were imitated by the French, 
among whom the Jongleurs were incorporated into a society, about the 
year 1330. By means of the troubadours and jongleurs, the Provencal 
language and poetry became generally diffused : and by means of their 
songs that dialect was communicated to France, Italy, Germany, and 
England, and in some of these countries it was partially adopted, or 
employed to correct their respective languages. Our King Richard I. 
attempted the Provencal poesy \% and if Chaucer did not avail himself 
of it to polish the English language, a question, indeed, which is 
yet undecided, it is certain that many of his poems were either trans- 
lated, or their fables were borrowed from French and Italian writers, 
who drew largely from the Provencal bards. § In Germany, the 

* Casiri, Bibl. Arab. Escurial, torn. i. p. 126. col. 1. 

f Ibid, torn. ii. p. 40. The MS. referred to in the Escurial Library, is a Chronological History 
of Spain. 

\ It is well known that Richard I. whose valiant achievements had endeared him as much to the 
crusaders, as his liberality did to the troubadours, was not only a great lover of Provencal poetry ; but, 
when basely imprisoned by the Emperor Henry VI. he is said to have been indebted for his liberty 
to a tenson, or poetical contest, which had formerly been composed by him, and his faithful min- 
strel, Blondel ; who, overhearing him while beguiling the tedious hours of confinement by singing 
it, thus discovered the place of his concealment, and took the necessary steps for procuring his 
master's deliverance. Sismondi, torn. i. pp. 144 — 146. M. Sismondi has given an interesting 
sirvente, or Provencal poem of the Royal Captive, together with a French version of it, pp. 147 
— 149. The sirvente was a song, appropriated to politics, war, or satire. 
§ Dryden's Prose Works, by Malone, vol. iii. p. 638. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 



319 



Emperor Frederic Barbarossa composed Provencal poems ; and it is 
certain, *'rom the admissions of Bembo, Varchi, and others, that the 
Provencal dialect was the original of the Italian language. The sove- 
reign princes, dukes, and lords of Italy, all wrote Provencal. Frederic % 
and Charles of Anjou, who were eminent patrons of Italian literature 
and poetry, have left some Provencal poems ; and Bembo and Redi 
have proved that the Provencal poets were both studied and imitated 
by the Sicilians and Tuscans. 

Dante, Petrarca, and Boccaccio, respectively studied the Provencal 
language ; and the first-mentioned poet has put some Provencal ter- 
zines into the mouth of Arnauld Daniel, a celebrated troubadour, whom 
he has introduced in the twenty-fifth canto of his Purgatorio :* Boc- 
caccio has enriched his Decameron with numerous Proven§al romances 
and tales ; and Petrarch has borrowed many ideas and sentiments, 
verbatim, from the Provencal poets. f 

* The reader may see the passage translated in Mr. Boyd's Dante, vol. ii. pp. 311, 312. It has 
been said that Dante hesitated for a considerable time whether he should compose his poem in the 
Provencal or the Italian language. 

■J* Andres has given the following passage from the celebrated troubadour, Mossen Jordi. 

E non he pau, e no tine quim' guerreig, 
Vol sobre el eel, e nom' movi de terra, 
E no estrench res, et tot lo raon abras ; 
Oy he de mi, e vull a altri gran be, 
Si no es Amor, donchs aco que sera I 

Which Petrarch has borrowed, or imitated in the following manner : 

S' amor non e, che dunque e quel ch' io sento ! 

Pace non trovo, e non ho da far guerra ; 
E volo sopra '1 cielo, e giaccio in terra ; 
E nulla stringo, e tntt' il mondo abbraccio ; 
Ed bo in odio me stesso, ed amo altrui. 

This literal imitation has induced Tassoni, Sarmiento, Sanchez, and other critics, both Italian 
and Spanish, whose reasonings are detailed at considerable length by the Abate Andres, to suppose 
that Petrarch himself had been imitated by this Mossen Jordi, whom they have made to live sub- 
sequent to the fifteenth century ; while some other Spanish authors represented him as living in 
the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and maintain, on the contrary, that Petrarch imitated 



320 



THE HISTORY OF THE MAHOMETAN 



The honour, therefore, of inventing rhyme, is unquestionably due to 
the Arabians : but this is not the only instance in which they have con- 
ferred an obligation on literature, and the arts. We have already seen, 
that the old mode of teaching music by sol-fa-ing,* and also the inven- 
tion of fables and tales, f probably originated with the Arabs; to whom 
we are further indebted for some musical instruments,^ for the philoso- 
phy^ and medicine, || of the Greeks, for chemistry, % and pharmacy,** 
for the arithmetic of the Indians, ft and for various improvements in 
the pure and mixed mathematics. Their communication of these dif- 
ferent branches of knowledge, as well as the inventions of making paper 
and gun-powder, together with the compass, contributed to produce a 
mighty change on the aspect of modern Europe : and, as the two first 
of these inventions have been briefly noticed in a preceding page,§§ it 
now only remains that we shortly state their claim to the honour of 
discovering the mariner's compass. 

This most valuable instrument has been generally known and used 
in Europe for the purposes of navigation, only since the commencement 
of the 13th century : its discovery is usually ascribed to Flavio de Gioia, 
of Amalfi, in the kingdom of Naples, though on what authority we 
have not been able to ascertain. Tiraboschi, notwithstanding his 
partiality for Italy, is decidedly of opinion, that the honour of its 
invention is due to the Arabs. Something like a compass appears to 
have been known to the Chinese ; but our information in this respect 
is too unsatisfactory to be relied on, and the supposition of Trombelli, 
that Aristotle wrote concerning it, is equally untenable. Vincent de 

Mossen Jordi. There may possibly have been two authors of that name ; but there is nothing 
improbable in the supposition, that Petrarch imitated the Spanish poet, since he lived in the midst 
of Provencal poets of every nation. His beautiful Laura also spoke the Provencal dialect: and 
whoever attentively examines the poems of Petrarch, may find in them numerous traces of the 
genius of that language. Andres, torn. i. pp. 320 — 328, 4to. edit. 

* See p. 296 supra. t P. 238, 239 supra. % P. 296 supra. 

§ P. 245, 246 supra. || P. 248 supra. f P. 250, 251 supra. 

** P. 249 supra. ff P. 251 supra. %% P. 253—258 supra. 

§§ See p. 268, 269 supra, for an account of paper, and p. 250 for a notice of the invention of 
gun-powder. 



EMPIRE IN SPAIN. 321 

Beauvais (Vincentius Bellovacensis) and Albert the Great, who flou- 
rished in the middle of the 12th century, both mention the poles of the 
magnet, as from a tract of Aristotle de Lapidibus, since lost, in which 
he speaks of amicable and of hostile poles : but this treatise had been 
commented upon by the Arabs ; and the words zoron and afron, cited 
by Albert the Great, are unquestionably neither Latin nor Greek, but 
Arabic. They areJU- djarron, that is hot wind, and J} \ avron, which 
signifies the north. 

The long and laborious voyages, undertaken by the Saracens, might 
suggest to them the idea of contriving some instrument by which to 
direct their course : and since we know further that they paid consi- 
derable attention to the art of navigation, on which there* is a manu- 
script extant in the Escurial library,* it is at least probable that they 
were the inventors of the magnetic needle. What affords additional 
strength to this conjecture is, that the Arabians are among the most 
ancient writers on geography and voyages, who have spoken of the 
compass ; and who lived prior to the supposed inventors, Marco Paolo 
and Flavio Gioia. The Nubian geographer, who wrote about the 
middle of the twelfth century, speaks of this instrument with sufficient 
clearness. The result of all these probabilities is, that we are indebted 
to the Arabs for the invention of the compass ; and that Gioia improved 
the rude instrument then known, and constructed another, more exact, 
as well as more safe and convenient, and consequently better adapted 
for general utility. j- 

In addition to the invention of the compass, and to those other dis- 
coveries for which Europe is indebted to the Arabs, Andres $ has offered 
a conjecture that they preceded our immortal Newton in discovering 
the doctrine of attraction. He grounds his supposition on two treatises 
of the celebrated mathematician, Mohammed Ben Miisa, de prceci- 
puorum orbium celestium motu, and de virtute attrahendi, which are 

* Casiri, torn- ii. p. 6, col. 1. In torn- i. p. 388, col. 1. is noticed a treatise of the celebrated 
mathematician, Thebit ben Corrah, de Sideribus, eorurnque occasu, ad artis nauticos usum 
accommodatis. 

f Andres, torn. ii. pp. 210-226, and torn. xii. p. 269. % Tom. i, p. 236. 

T t 



322 



THE HISTORY, 8fc. 



mentioned in the list of his works, given by his biographer.* If these 
pieces had been extant in any form that was accessible to European 
philosophers, this conjecture of the learned Abate would have had the 
semblance of probability : but as they have never been communicated 
to modern Europeans, and since it is uncertain whether they are even 
in existence, the honour of Newton's discovery remains unimpaired. 
On a careful review, therefore, of all that has been achieved by the 
Arabs, in the promotion of literature and the sciences, there is, we ap- 
prehend, sufficient evidence to authorize the conclusion, that modern 
Europe is indebted to them for most of those useful inventions, which, 
for so many centuries, she has quietly and uninterruptedly enjoyed. 
Nor can the reflecting mind contemplate, without surprise, the very 
low rank which that nation at present holds in the republic of letters. 
Their climate has undergone no change, — their religion, their govern- 
ment, their manners, and their sentiments, generally, have continued 
unalterably the same ; — what, then, can be the cause of the existing 
ignorance, which prevails among the Saracens > 

* Casiri, torn. i. p. 418, col. 2. 



THE END. 



* B 



APPENDIX. 



A COLLECTION OF THE HISTORICAL NOTICES AND POEMS 
IN THE ALHAMRA OF GRANADA .* 

(Referred to,, page 197 supra.) 

This collection was made by the Licenciado Alonso del Castillo : and, though 
some words of the copy, from which this transcript is made., have been corrected 
by the translator, yet he is aware that there are several errors still remaining. Of 
the local allusions also, which frequently occur in the poems, the translator, 
having never beheld the places therein celebrated, cannot satisfy himself : and the 
versions given by the Spanish collector, not only betray much uncertainty, but 
are evidently in some particulars remote from the original meaning. The English 
translator has taken some freedom, but merely such as he judged requisite, in 
order to impart more clearly, and more connectedly, the sense of the original, than 
a bare literal translation could effect. 

Of the difficulty of the task he has undertaken, those only, who are well 
acquainted with Arabic poetry, can form some idea. Verses in that language, on 
the common topics of poetry, are generally written with the diacritic points, in 
order to fix their meaning, or are accompanied with a commentary. In this 
instance, however, such aids not only are for the most part wanting ; but the text 
is also incorrect, occasioned perhaps by the errors of ignorant transcribers as well 
as printers ; besides which, the peculiarity of the subjects here described, and 
alluded to, greatly increases the difficulty of tracing aright the extraordinary 
courses of the Eastern Poet's imaginations. But, notwithstanding the uncertainty 
which, for the reasons above noticed, exists in some particulars, yet these inscrip- 
tions, in the state they have been obtained, are considered well worthy of being 
recorded here; as well on account of the original application of them, as of 
the information they impart relative to the structures on which they are found, 
and the genius of the people by whom they were devised. A comparison of the 

* Translated by Mr. Shakespear. 



o 



iv APPENDIX. 

inscription, No. 2, following, with a pretended translation of it, given by the gene- 
rally accurate writer Swinburne,* (the fidelity of whose description of the Arabian 
antiquities of Spain has been in most respects confirmed by subsequent travellers, 
but who was either misled by others, or attempted what he was himself wholly un- 
qualified to perform in this instance) may serve not only to justify the foregoing 
remarks on the difficulty of ascertaining the import of some of these inscriptions, 
but as an additional argument for exhibiting them here to public notice, that 
imposition with respect to them may be in future obviated. 



No. 1. 

Inscription on the Great Gate, called Babu-sh-Sharl'at, or the Gate of the Law. 
J* USU <U». U£ fXJi\ & to\\ ±x~>\ totjj^\ ^^41 c_>UI Ijjb 

iJgik~X&\ J\ r c\ \jfty« 

Jil£U a~zs tod\$4\ aSUsI J.J0' j t$\jl\ totAu* {XJ\ J *1M uJ^j.-aj $ sij(j!fjj ^jJUll 
*-3U! ilslLaM JU-eM ti <Ui^ j <LS!j *j.c <&ll di^&U*~>j o**£^ j &«J |»U jJix^J! 

" This gate, named Babu-sh-Shari'at, may God prosper through it the 
et law of Islam even as He has established it a lasting monument of glory, 
" was built at the command of our Lord the Commander of the Muslims, 
" the warlike the just Sultan, Abu-l-Hajjaj Yusuf, son of our Lord the 
ee warlike the sanctified (deceased) Sultan, Abu-l-Walid Ibn Nasr, whose 
" pious deeds for religion may the Almighty recompense, and whose valo- 
" rous performances in the cause of the faith may He graciously accept. 
tc And it was completed in the monthf of the glorious birth (of Muhammad) 
cc in the year seven hundred and forty-nine. J May heaven constitute it 
,e a protecting bulwark and record it among the lasting actions of the 
" righteous." 

The Gate of the Law, or of Judgment as it is usually termed by modern writers, 
is the principal entrance to the royal palace of the Alhamra : for views of this 
noble relic of Arabian art, see " The Arabian Antiquities of Spain," Plate XIII. 
to XVII. Some observations on the architecture and decorations of the Alhamra 
are giver, in pp. 192-198 supra. 

* See Swinburne's Travels in Spain, vol. i. pp. 281, 282, 8vo, edition. f Rabi'u-l-Avwal. 
% A. D. 1348. 



APPENDIX. 



V 



No. 2. 

JUaJ (Jjt^\ Jw*5»- ikai^\ (J!>\ £*~>J\ <s-Asli tjt&~« jU\ <—ijj*d\ s 

In the court of the Lions are these verses of elegant meaning, around the upper 
fascia of the Fountain. 



Verse I. LilUM JUA e^fj JU^ plc1\ J*£-\ <£SjlS 

3. W^J^ ^UjkI u**jV ^jy *** ^ c/* 

4. W^V-* u**^ u — ^ "4 ^ y*^^ ck! J^** 1 JJ 1 ^ 

6. VjW-^ cr* <^ <-£r^ W\ ^1 J jJI 

7. Li)1j 4__jU- *M ci^tj i/^r" <fc*»- u^s? JiJ 
12. b jU\ JuJ j bUcl c^sr U>l3 fL> 



Verse 1. te Blessed be He who gave our sovereign, Muhammad, a mansion 
ee that in beauty surpasses (all others) the delightful mansions. 

2. c< But if not (so), yet this bowers enfolds wonders, to which Heaven 

" forbids that in the two sanctuaries (even) any thing comparable 
c( should be found ! 

3. " With a pile of dazzling pearl rising over a surface on which the 

ee gem (like bubbles) receding danse ; 

4. " In a circle of silver flowing among jewels which it resembles in 

" beauty, pure and contending with them in splendor. 

5. " Flowing (indeed) it appears to the eye as the solid (mass) so that we 

" are at a loss to distinguish which it is that really flows. 

6. cc Seest thou not how the water runs confusedly together, whilst 

" (various) currents appear (descending) from above? 

7. " Like the lover, whose eyelids gush with tears ; and, who restrains 

" them when afraid of an informer. 



APPENDIX. 



8. tc But, is it in fact any other than a bright cloud, from which supplies 

" are poured out abundantly to the Lions ? 

9. tc Resembling the extended hand of the Khalif, when engaged in 

" imparting benefits to the furious lions of war. 

10. cc Then, O thou, who beholdest the lions, which are at rest (assure 

cc thyself of safety); life is wanting (to enable them) to rush forth ! 

11. cc And, O Thou who inheritest (the glories) of the sons of Nasr ! to 

ee the most noble of family belongs that possession of greatness 
" which princes rightly claim. 

12. " On thee be the constant blessing of heaven 1 Mayest thou restrain the 

" extravagancies of (thy) subjects and subdue (all) opposers !"* 



No. 3. 

Within this magnificent palace, on the north side, is the tower of Comaresh ; 
and, on the wall that is on the outside of it, over against the basin, are the verses 
of which a transcript is here given. 

Verse 1. I**)} j Lis AJj\ tl^J J_jli yjUft^l ^ ti^U 

2. L£sw ^bjUfi-\ u^w — «l j Life! l^££U>j&&\ if^xb 

3. UiXS^Aftl! \jiy^, <—^: , V^ V*}* 9 ^ jjs> 

4. U^o /ad] bb Lisa's iys- (— e*Jb ij^s^i j 

6. ULJ' j ^LjJW ^ SI JJA Ui 8V5J^» U-i j*0! ^-i- j!j 

8. Ula^l ^ ^ <_£^ i^iU j£ 4 CfJljj 

io. Ulkl Jialb ^ U _j]is\S Xm-j ijKUn Jib 



* This inscription is much defaced ; and there is not only great doubt as to the true reading, in 
many instances, but some of the allusions are also very obscure : so that, though the translator ha? 
.repeatedly attempted the subject, he is sensible that he has not been able to do justice to it. The 
-very beautiful Court and Fountain of Lions are delineated in Plates XXXIII. to XXXVII. of the 
" Arabian Antiquities of Spain." 



APPENDIX. 



vii 



12. UjIj cSJJ> ^Ut j^-xc JLj *^-==? (*^^ 

Verse 1. ff Praise to Him who has committed to Thee the government of His 
" servants, and through Thee graciously extended the Faith, and 
" benefitted it. 

2. " How many were the cities of infidels, on the people of which thou 

" camedst at morn, and by night their lives were at Thy mercy ! 

3. " When Thou boundedst them in the bonds of captivity, and they 

" came to thy court as slaves to construct thy palaces. 

4. " And Thou conqueredst, by force and by the sword, the peninsula, 

et opening a gate to victory which was shut before. 

5. ee But prior to these (atchievements) Thou subduedst twenty fortresses, 

'* making all they contained the prey of thy warriors. 

6. " So that, had the Faith a choice of what it most desires, it would not 

" fail of choosing this, that Thou live and prosper. 

7. " Truly the luminaries of greatness have risen in Thy court ; and, by 

" reason of them, liberality gay and smiling has fixed her abode 
" there : 

8. ce The traits of which, in every act (of Thine) are more numerous and 

" striking than the bright series of connected pearls. 
9. ee Whence, O son of eminence, of wisdom, of might and of fame ! 
" who surpasses! (in highness) the utmost regions of the stars, 

10. ec Thou hast ascended in the sphere of empire (as the sun ascends the 

ei vault of heaven) mercifully to dissipate the shadows of oppression 
" which had intervened. 

11. " So that Thou assurest the tender branches, of safety even from the 

ee breath of the zephyrs ; and, Thou terrifiest the very stars in the 
" center of the sky. 

12. " For, if the bright luminaries tremble (in imparting their twinkling 

" rays) it is through dread (of thee) ; and, if the branches of the 
" bower* wave, it is constantly an act of gratitude to Thee !" 



* Literally, " of the ban," a beautiful tree growing abundantly in some parts of Arabia, and 
frequently mentioned by the poets of that country. 



viii 



APPENDIX. 



No. 4. 

trf*"?- ^.'V. v*** JJ^*^ Z/^ J^W c^*-^ (J^ J 

Over the recess, on the right hand side, within the abovementioned tower, are 
these verses surrounding it. 

Verse 1. Ul ^ [jsft\ CJpS\ *L»1 j ti£UM ^ U 

4. c-d? <lj dd«*.> ^ buj il&lw Lie J t^>Ju»i 

5. Sr?r '! b^tfl ^ j iJp*?. i^iL> <xi AJi\ J uliO & ^ J 

Verse 1. " O son of kings, and of the descendants of kings, to whom the stars 
ee yield in dignity when your origins are compared ! 

2. " If thou raisest up a palace, there is no equal to it ; it comprises great- 

" ness, and all the degrees (of greatness) are completely beneath it : 

3. <( Where are rehearsed the rare wonders of the government, deposited 

te in records and in books.* 

4. " On a lovely eminence thou hast pitched, for the Faith, a tent of glory, 

" to support which not a cord is stretched. 

5. " How many are the good deeds which Thou hast already done in the 

" land of Islam, wonderful in their effects ! 

6. " Benefits (conferred) without reproach (for them) ; gifts (made) with- 

" out return (for them) ; mercy (shewn) without severity ; forgive- 
" ness without blame ! " 



No. 5. 

And over the recess on the left is the following. 
Verse 1. l-^xjJ) C^Ullk >s y *£ ^ C^Lo ^ C^dl U j ^ ^\ 

* This recess or cabinet seems to have been a repository for state papers : and, it may be here re- 
marked, that allusion is generally made in these poems to the appropriation of the rooms where they 
are respectively inscribed. 



APPENDIX. ix 

4. «-r*& ^ — H ^ {J* ' cf*J jy?~ ^*"" 

5. <—>/^ j i^itjij \£ cJ^\ xy- (J ¥ 

Verse 1. ff Truly Ibn Nasr is equalled by no king. From his court the omens of 
" victory are sought. 

2. cc Heaven-supported ; thousands tremble at his rage : were he to threaten 

' c the region of the sky, not a luminary in it would appear. 

3. " Princes are agitated at the splendor of his genealogy. He is dreaded, 

" though his nature impels him to beneficence and mercy, 

4. " From whatever is the practice of injustice : and, through the generosity 

" of his diposition, he holds his wealth only whilst giving it away. 

5. " May He never fail in that dignity which (other) kings revere : and, 

cc may all men, whether barbarians or Arabs, stand in awe of k ! " 



No. 6. 

j*JL l^U^sr *^ **** cMt* cr° J 

In one of the windows, on the right hand side of this proud Saloon,* are the fol- 
lowing verses, descriptive of its elegance. 

Verse 1. JU£ j CL>\3 <jsyj& *^s? \j\ 

3. jig!! ^U' \$~L« x^ssr /~s\j 

4. JW~J *W {J v~*-£> ^Ij 

5. jy ^-**J ^ cM> teij (J 1 

Verse 1. ff Iam the ornamented seat of the bride, endowed with beauty and per- 
" fection. 

2. " (Doest thou doubt it?) look then at this basin; thou wilt be fully 
" convinced of the truth of my assertion. 

* Apparently the Saloon in the tower of Comaresh, before-mentioned, justly called the Proud or 
Golden Saloon, from the superb ornaments which were bestowed on it, in the richest profusion. 
For views of this noble apartment, as well as its various mosaics, and other ornaments, see the 
" Arabian Antiquities of Spain," Plates XL. XLI.LVI.to LXI. LXII. to LXXVII. andLXXXI. to 
LXXXIII. 

*D 



3! 



APPENDIX. 



3. <( Regard, also, my tiara ; thou wilt find it resembling that of the cre- 

cc scent moon. 

4. " And, Ibn Nasr is the sun of my orb in splendour and beauty : 

5. cc May he continue in the (noontide) altitude of glory, secure (from 

change) whilst the sun sets and disappears ! " 



No. 7. 

In the window opposite the one above mentioned are these verses. 

Verse 1. ajUJ) l^a.~> <^vi<-j 'ita ^s? Ul 

2. *jLc ^j^AJ UjIS <Us (ji,J{^ l^-v—^ 

5. a^Lc ^ <^x»ri t^*"^ *Uj 

Verse I. ff lam the glory of the oratory, which surpasses the zenith of felicity. 

2. " In it thou mayest imagine the basin to be as one constantly engaged 

" in devotion : 

3. " No sooner has he once performed his adoration, than he hastens again 

" to repeat it. 

4. ce And, through our Lord, lbn Nasr, has the Almighty exalted his crea- 

<e tures ; 

5. " Who claims his descent from the Prince of the tribe of Khazrij, Saad 

" ibn Ubada." 



No. 8. 

In the window next to the last mentioned, is some prose apparently ; as likewise 
in the window opposite to it ; but, over each are verses, and those over the right 
hand window are as follows : 

Verse 1.. i^lH ^\ CJ>^i ^bj <J^, J^^t i^-Jii 



APPENDIX. 



Verse 1. ec The most beautiful I surpass in my robe and tiara ; so that the lumi- 
" naries of the Zodiac are descending to me. 

2. ee The water-basin which I enclose, seems as a worshipper who stands in 

" the Kibla of the sanctuary, performing his devotions. 

3. ec Secure against the current of time are my generous deeds to the thirsty ; 

" and (they are) the desire of (those so) oppressed. 

4. " So that in my effects I seem to be liberality itself (proceeding) from 

" the hand of our Lord, Abu-l-Hajjaj : 

5. C( May He never fail shining, the bright luminary in my hemisphere, as 

" long as the full moon continues to dispel the shades of night ! " 



No. 9. 

And over the right hand window are these verses. 
Verse 1. yb\j>- L^v»la3 U Juo jjf-W.^ J»«W (-^-JJ 

4. >^ ^V* ur*^ ^ try 

Verse 1. cc Delicately have the fingers of the artist woven my drapery, after the 
""jewels of my crown were set : 
2 <c So that I resemble the throne of a bridegroom ; nay I excel it in this, 
" that I fail not of securing the felicity of those who enjoy me. 

3. " If he that approaches me complains of thirst, the aid I afford is a cool 

" grateful liquid, unmixed and undefiled ! 

4. " As if (in comparison) I was the bow of the clouds, when it appears 

ec (the harbinger of rain) ; and the sun (on whom I depend) our 
" Lord, Abu-l-Hajjaj. 

5. " Never may his abode cease to be under the protection of heaven, 

" as long as the house of God shall continue the resort of the 
" faithful ! " 



xn 



APPENDIX. 



No. 10. 

In the middle Golden Saloon,* which was the throne of the empire, are these 
verses surrounding it. 

Verse 1. <J&\ j ^ j£> ^ j\ ^ £c it****? 

3. ^-a^ ^jjl jJu? (—Jill ^9 j cl&> S L-JJill L^i" rdjf- 

^Uad ^ ^jiU UjLjJ Oo^Jl <_5^* ^jiL^ 

Verse 1. ic By me be thou saluted both at morn and at night, with the tongues of 
" happiness, blessing, prosperity and joy ! 

2. ec This is the sublime dome, and we (the several apartments) are her 

" daughters ; but to me belong excellence and dignity, above (all 
<e my) kindred. 

3. er Members (are we of the same body but) I am indisputably the heart 

" in the midst of them ; and, from the heart springs the energy of 
ce soul and of life. 

4. <e Granted that my fellows are the constellations of the Zodiac in the 

" heaven of this structure ; yet in me exists, over what they possess, 
" the pre-eminence of the sun. 

5. c ' Me, my august sovereign, Yusuf, has adorned with the robes of glory, 

{f and of preference without disguise : 

6. c ' And, he has constituted me the throne of empire ; the eminence of 

" which be upheld by Him, to whom belongs the divine glory and 
" the celestial throne." 



* Called by the Spaniards La Sola de Embaxadores, or the Hall of Ambassadors. The original of 
this poem, in its ornamented characters, is given in Plate LXXXI. of <{ The Arabian Antiquities 
of Spain." 



APPENDIX. 



xia 



No. 11. 

Within the Sublime Saloon to the south, and which is the fourth, are these 
verses passing round the four sides, together with others in the pentagon,* of 
elegant meaning. 

Verse 1. UU J6 j 1£>L| cT* CT* 

4. UU*M j\ib«J jJ-C^ J <U<A.S^ C^-v«lj> ^(X) 

5. U|y>- l^-jb j^ilb ^ c^>«y j-i ^y-'i ^ *£j 

7. ^J-^ J * ^J 1 J* 1 *^ 3 f*^ ^ ^ iJ ^ 3 

8. UU. ijo^\ CJ>j£ u^Jii y-y^^ \^yae. J^u^jJ! £sX3 

Verse 1. (C The splendor which I possess is (derived) from my Lord and Sove- 
cc reign, Muhammad, the most excellent of those that shall be and 
cc that have been. 

2. cc At night the five pleiades attend on him ; and, at morn, the feeble 

<c gale becomes a charmer for him. 

3. ce In my splendor, too, the bright stars of heaven desire to be fixed, and 

" to be no longer wandering in the regions of the sky ; 

4. " But to stand before my sovereign, obedient to his commands ; for 

cc they who serve the most exalted, gain the highest honours as 
ec their rewards. 

5. el How many, in the expanse of this (hall) are the arches, raised upon 

" columns, (shining) with a brilliancy that illumines all around! 

6. " Here is the polished marble, whose dazzling splendor beams forth 

" so that every shade is dispersed, which intervened (before.) 

7. " Never have we beheld a bower, more delightful to the sight, whose 

<f borders are more fragrant, and whose fruits are more sweet. 



* Or, five sides, or five divisions ; for the exact sense of the Arabic word is a distribution or arrange- 
ffient of any thing in Jive parts. 



xiv 



APPENDIX. 



8. " Even the stones (forming the pavement) of it reflect among its bran- 
" ches the (sun's rajs as) coins of gold,, to complete its ornaments/ 

The third, fourth, fifth, and sixth verses of this poem, are engraved in the ori- 
ginal characters in Plate LXXXVI. figures 1-4, of the " Arabian Anti- 
quities of Spain." 



No. 12. 



Verse 1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

5. 

6. 

7. 

8. 

9. 
10. 
11. 
12. 
13. 
14. 
15. 
16. 



Inscription on the Pentagon or Five Divisions. 

UU- ^.^-i) &Jc~J (JUis- J-«>b' UU- ^mSUJ i^ssXiA <^>jj\ bt 
LjLwfll Jj*-JI ^Jx jjjjb J-^»s)l i[i^e <dli 

LjUI ^ 

bob j Li— L^-i ^Ji, ,_Sjj ^ji&> iS' 

bjb i! ^aii J»^c Jlai' l^j-J C^/j tl/iljill 
Vjlj* - <^r?* J^**^ ^ OJ>Lai <U>ji J£j CU*b>- bjlj-j 

-0M ji* i^uf a*^Jb c^u u til 

b jb j UU! j\ j Ij.alko ^Jxl ^ j*aJ ^ ^Ji 



Verse 1. te I am the bower : truly I appear decked out in beauty ! shouldst 
" thou survey attentively my elegance, thou wilt reap the advantage 
" of a commentary on decoration. 
2. " Surely to God must be ascribed this perfect structure ; for, it exceeds 
(c the buildings (of mortals) in the measure of its success. 



APPENDIX. 



xv 



3. " How many are the views it enfolds delightful to the sight ! In it the 

cc mind of the sage is gratified beyond all it could have desired. 

4. " Here is the proud Alcove, unequalled ; where thou wilt discover 

ff beauty in every recess as well as in the parts exposed. 

5. " To it (the Alcove or vaulted building) the constellation of the Twins 

" stretches out the hand of salutation, and the full moon of heaven 
cc draws near to converse with it. 

6. " (Yea happy would they be) if they stood in its courts, and could con- 

te tend with each other in performing that service, by which His 
" friends gratify him. 

7. " And, it would be no wonder, if the luminaries were to fail in the 

" regions above, and were to fix themselves in this alcove, the 
" utmost goal of desire : 

8. " Where is the portico by which elegance is outdone, and through 

" which this palace surpasses the heavens in splendor. 

9. " How many are the robes of his magnificence in which it is adorned, 

(c whose richness makes undeserving of notice the vaunted texture 
" of Yaman ! 

10. " So that thou mayest imagine it to be the heavens, and the celestial 

" orbs revolving in its arches, which appear as the radiance of the 
" advancing morn. 

11. lc (With) columns displaying all that is exquisite, and from which the 

" beauty of columns has become currently proverbial. 

12. (C When the beams of the sun illumine them, thou must imagine them 

" to be precious gems, notwithstanding the magnitude of their 
" size. 

IS. " Never have we beheld a palace more lofty in its outward appearance, 
" of clearer atmosphere, or of more extensive apartments. 

14. " In it is not only paid the debt with costs, exacted by the judge of 

" elegance ; but, the double of that amount is produced. 

15. cc And, when the hand of the zephyr sinks under the noon-tide rays, the 

" golden coins of light issuing from it are fully satisfactory. 

16. cc Between me and Victory there is a striking resemblance; observe it 

" well ; it is the brilliancy of appearance (we each bear.)" 

The sixth, tenth, and eleventh verses of this poem, in the original characters, 
occur in plate LXXXVII. figures 3, 4, and 5, of the " Arabian Antiquities of 
Spain." 



XVI 



APPENDIX. 



No. 13. 

Over the resemblances of two windows in the Alcove (perhaps Gallery) which 
is on the outside of this tower, towards the Gardens, are these verses. 



Verse 1. 



2. <sSL; J ji 



7 '■ * J — ~ 



4. 
5. 
6. 
7. 



<UuJ u \ «;J J^»! c^ks^ jjii^ c^-^. (j,^ ^r* 
<siL»- ^UjJIj <—>j£l ^-.s- J*c4j 

<*!^U- cl^UD <0J1 ^s-jaoJ ^! &Sl life J£ 



Verse 1. w Every art has endowed me with its excellence; yea its beauty and 
" perfection it has presented to me. 

2. '* He who beholds me likens me in idea to a female, addressing this 

" basin, which (as her beloved) she strives to obtain. 

3. cc And when the spectator has surveyed my beauty, the dimness in his 

te eyes (occasioned by his earnest gazing on me) proves the inade- 
" quacy of his conception of it. 

4. (c From the burst of my splendor thou mayest behold the full moon, 

' c whose halo beams forth in my arch as in the mansions of the sky. 

5. " Yet I am not alone (to be wondered at), for I overhang in astonishment 

ee those bowers, to which eye has seen no equal. 

6. " This is no other than a palace of chrystal ; the beholder fancies it to 

" be a tremendous ocean (so boundless is its extent) and he stands 
ce aghast at (the sight of) it. 

7. " All this is the creation of the Imam, Ibn Nasr, whose greatness may 

" Heaven uphold for (other) Princes (to revere)." 

The second, third, and sixth verses of this poem are engraved, in the original 
characters, in Plate LXXXVI. of the work above referred to. 



APPENDIX. 



xvii 



No. 14. 

In a circle round the three windows are these verses. 
"- 

111? <o j£ <uLe Jt'-'W ^^.i^ *\ y>U j 
&=cLli SJUlt ^Ur UK tlOuli fc)^ 

Into it, too, descends the zephyr of the cool air, whence the tempera- 

" ture of the place is correct, and its gale ascends. 
Truly I enfold the extreme of every beauty, beneath which the lumi- 

" naries in the highest region of the sky sink in comparison. 
And, to these bowers I am the principal eye ; and, this eye has exhi- 

" bited (an image of) the divinity : He is the sovereign, 
Muhammad, the illustrious in valour and liberality, who claims a 

" maternal genealogy the most eminent, and a matrimonial con- 

" nection the most proud. 
In the hemisphere of empire He shines forth the full moon of 

" righteousness ; whence, His good deeds appear the more beau- 

" tiful, and His glories the more pure. 
But, He is no other than the sun that has entered this mansion ; the 

ee whole of which in astonishment serves only (as a cloud) to over- 

et shadow Him. 

From me may he contemplate the prosperity of his kingdom, as often 
" as He unveils himself on the throne of empire and displays His 
" majesty. 

And, let Him but direct a glance of his authority to the quarter where 
<c the zephyrs play, the balmy gale will obey his summons. Surely 
" He has adorned 

* D 



xviii 



APPENDIX. 



9. " Mansions containing delights for the eye ; which must remain ever 
" captivated in them, if rightly endowed with discernment." 

jUM Jjjd* <M Jus ^\ jU.il! £"U jz 

Above these verses is the following line. 

(t Glory to the most illustrious of ages, the subduer of cities, our sovereign 
ce Abu Abdillah, the pride of the sons of Nasr." 



No. 15 

Epitaph on the Sultan Abu-l-Hajjaj-Yusuf. 

(Referred to, page 139 supra.) 

In a garden fronting the court of the Lions, there were found, some years since, 
four stones, bearing the epitaphs of four kings of Granada; and, a transcript of 
one of them, being that of Abu-Miajjaj Yusuf, is thus given. 

Verse 1, ybdfl \Xc ulCi J*- c /^< *W ^J>j j cA^v^V ^-^f^; 

4. joM uJ^»- jV^I |»U£ U tjQrx» J# iJ jPflil ^-^j ci^ .j 

8. ,^=0 ^Ur^l jJ.K j lJ&$\ j^>- ^sd\ <jK a * j 

j ^-^--^ <— A*— *• _j *»jU LS^i/"^ < ^ ,M) ^^** r 

11. U^j ^ ^JsLliu Jjbj jUjll (-J^s 

12. (3 l»-£*> c^^j ^ cr*j aI-Jj cj,f*j j 1 - 5 j&jJi j& 
is. jfoN ^ u LiH S?, t ^l) J--*\ <0'lf 4 lje^L U-*£> J J 



9. 

10. 



APPENDIX. 



14. j4\ u*o d)j ,jutA\ UjJ CJj~A\ dSj 

15. Jtsi ^j* Sjlfsll fjJi lSj*} ij-^j j Jks&\ Ju£ 

16. j lUX*^ if<Xs- ^.^^j; l^w* 

17. jAftH j j^lsli j tpl jJI _^s»- i^JJ j j»*i«51 j ^'1 

18. jXJl i»i-jAjs}b *U. j,y J^> i <JjjJ ^ <teJ"l ^iLi 

19. y<ash As*. <dJl c->U«4 j J.il~s Jl^ j^-* _/<a£ U j 

20. ycfy t ij^. ^ c^ 3 ^ (> ^ 

21. jJuN ci-*-*- ^ <*U1 j^Jaj j UJill j ^U^ll Jk*i 

22. ^/^V *k k>y. ^'JU- <J^ JuMdJ'l LjJ^b ^ ^ j 

23. j jis?! J ^1 4-11 ^ t J (J**H u"* 5 fc^to Li 

24. ^ C^ijAC y^s- ^*-J> U-Ji CS-'^ J <X**)' 

25. y-f^l? &»(i*Sl jld c^-~^^' c ^ i— as5'j 

26. <uj*i- ^\ U; J j Ui 

27. ti ^jJUl! <siL«J <xL»^> j ^^^-y ajJ! d^J6 

Translation of the Epitaph on Abu-l-Hajjaj Yusuf, Sultan of Granada, who 
died on the first of the month Shavwal, being the festival immediately subsequent 
to the fast of Ramazan. The manner of his death, to which, as he fell by assas- 
sination, various allusions are here made, is thus related by Ibnu-1-K.hatib, a 
witness of the event. " Whilst at divine service in the public mosque, a des- 
" perate man rushed upon him and plunged a dagger in his side. At the crying 
" out of the Sultan, the ceremony of prayer was stopped ; and the attendants, as well 
(< as the rest of the congregation, having run to the spot with their swords drawn, 
" dragged forth the murderer, whom they burnt without delay : and the Prince 
cc expired almost immediately on being conveyed to the palace." 

In the name of God The merciful and The forgiving ! 

Verse 1. " May the favour of heaven towards him who inhabits thee, my tomb, 
" hail thee with grace and mercy whilst time endures : 

2. tc Till, in the universal assembly at the resurrection, man falls on his 

" face before the Raiser of the dead. 

3. tc But, thou art not a tomb ! Thou art in truth a bower, replete with the 

<c sweetest plants, whence odours breathe ! 

4. " Nay, were I to do justice to thee, I could not but say, O calix of the 

cc flower of beauty ! O shell of the invaluable pearl ! 

5. " O recess of piety ! O retreat of righteousness ! O asylum of greatness ! 

" O west in which the full moon of excellence has set ! 



XX 



APPENDIX. 



6. te In thee what a Prince has taken up his abode ; by birth the heir of 

ef pre-eminence, the glory of the sons of Nasr ! 

7. " Yea, in thee now resides Virtue and Worth and Honour, and the 

cc Protector to whom the oppressed fled for refuge : 

8. '* He who was the great among believers — the maintainer of the defence 

" of righteousness ; and, he who was the great among the faithful— 
" the disperser of the shades of infidelity ! 

9. ce Offspring of Saad Ulkhazrijy son of Ubada !* Thy dignity is 

" derived from an exalted house as well as from thy own desert. 

10. <e Were his forbearance and clemency and piety to be recounted, and 

" wast thou to attempt a description of hia greatness, thou mightest 
" as easily define the immensity of the ocean. 

11. fC Treacherous to him was the revolution of time : but seest thou any 

" one living that enjoys immortality, or aught that endures for ever? 

12. ce It is Time, double-faced, day and night ; and how can the double- 

" faced be blamed for deceit ? 

13. rc He departed, a martyr, in the very act of prayer — 'Constant in devo- 

f( tion — his tongue moist with the accents of praise. 

14. e ' Lo, he had respect to the sacred month, when he completed his mea- 

" sure of goodness, and finished his pious task ! 

15. e( But, the festival he observed in sadness, inevitable the occurrence ; 

" and the cup of martyrdom was his only repast. 

16. <c To Heaven must be ascribed his fate, similar to that of Omar,f on 

te the summit of empire and in the prime of life. 

* Celebrated ancestors of the deceased. 

t The Khalif, Omar, was assassinated by Abu Lulua, servant of Almughlratu-bn Shaaba, when 
entering the mosque for morning prayers : and the occasion of the murder as well as the murder 
itself, are thus related by Ibnu-l-Athir. Abu Lulua, a foreigner-, whose proper name was FIroz, 
complained to Omar of the heavy tribute which his master, Almughlra, exacted of him : and, on 
the Kalif s asking how much it was, he replied, " one hundred dirhems a month." The Khalif then 
said, " what is thy trade ?" when the complainant enumerated several arts or trades which he prac- 
tised: and Omar expressed his opinion that the sum required was not too much for so many pro- 
fessions. The Khalif, moreover said, " am not I told that thousayest, If I like, thou wilt make for 
me a mill, which shall be turned by the wind ?" then, said he, " make me one." The artist replied, 
" I will make for thee a mill of which the people in the east and in the west shall hear" — alluding 
to his murder. Omar then turned away, saying, " surely the barbarian had the insolence to threaten 
me." A few days afterwards, Abu Lulua laid wait for the Khalif, at the hour of morning prayer, 
struck him at his going forth to that ceremony, with a poniard, and wounded him about the waist 
in six places ; one of which wounds, and the mortal one, was on the navel. From this anecdote it 
seems that windmills were not then known in Arabia, or the western parts of Asia : and, if Abu 
Lulua, who was a great mechanic or artist, had not seen an invention of the sort requested by the 
Khalif, in some other country, as he was a foreigner, apparently from his original name, a Persian, 
he may have been the first deviser of that curious machine. 



APPENDIX. 



xsi 



17. u Destined to (invade) him, though great in power and in renown, 

cc was one mean of birth, of soul and of repute : 

18. cc A wretch with whom commenced his bliss : for, through the most 

" insignificant of men are the direst events (occasionally) produced. 

19. " And the most exalted are not secure from the insults of the base : and 

' ' beyond (human) comprehension are the reasons of the divine decrees. 

20. " Thus, Aly was cut off by Ibn Muljam ;* and, beneath the hand of 

cc Wahshy sunk the renowned Hamza."^ 

21. rr Though we prepare the blades of Mushraf \ and select the firmest 

" spears, yet the decree of Heaven will overtake us where we expect 
" it not. 

22. (e And he who trusts to this frail world, however high his state may be, 

cc will inevitably one day experience disappointment. 

23. " Then, O sovereign of the kingdom which has no end ! and, O Thou 

" who possessest the sway and dominion over all ! 

24. ee Cover our errors with the veil of thy forgiveness ; for, by it alone can 

e ' we hope that they be concealed. 

25. " And, clothe the commander of the faithful in the robe of Thy mercy, 

ce which shall bring him to the mansion of retribution and of joy. 

26. ec With Thee, O God, is the real, the everlasting, bliss ; but, this world 

" is merely a delusion to ignorant and heedless man. 

27. rc May the Almighty vouchsafe mercy to our Prince, and join his 

" separation to his holy ancestors in Paradise." 

* The Khalif, Aly, was assassinated by Ibn Muljam in the mosque at Ciifa whilst in the act of 
prayer. 

t Hamza, son of Abdu-1 Mutallab, uncle of Muhammad, a celebrated Arabian chief, and a great 
defender of his nephew's cause and religion, was slain in battle by a black slave named Wahshy. 
% A district of Arabia or Syria, famous for the manufacture of swords. 



INDEX. 



t 



INDEX. 



Abbad. See Ibn Abbad. 

Abdallah invades and subdues Egypt, 21, 22. 

Abdilbarr. See Ihn Abdilbarr. 

Abdulaziz, son of Musa, Governor of Spain, 

74. Cause of his assassination, ibid. 
Abdullah, Khalif of Cordova, 95. 
Abdulrnalik, (Khalif). Splendid mosque 

erected by, 45, 46 note. 
Abdulrnalik, (Governor of Spain), notice of, 

76, 77- 

Abdulrnalik, Sovereign of Cordova, 144. 
Abdulmumin, Emperor of Morocco, invades 
Spain, 131. 

Abdurrahman I. enters Spain, and is acknow- 
ledged sovereign, 81, 82. Establishes his 
government at Cordova, 83. His friendship 
courted by Charlemagne, 84. Defeats the 
forces of the Khalif Almansur, 85. His 
death and character, 85. Account of his 
villa at Cordova, 165, 166. 

Abdurrahman II. ascends the throne, 91. 
Respect paid by him to the musician, Zary- 
ab, ibid. Expeditions against the Chris- 
tians, ibid. Defeats the Franks, 92. Spain 
ravaged by the Normans, ibid. Abdurrah- 
man takes Leon, ibid. Receives an em- 
bassy from the Greek Emperor, 93. His 
death and character, ibid. Revenues, 94. 
Anecdote of his gallantry, ibid. 

Abdurrahman III. accession of to the Khilafat 
of Cordova, 96. Assumes the title of Amiru- 
1-Muminin, or Commander of the Faithful, 
ibid. His successes against the Christians, 
ibid, 97. Is defeated by them at the battle 
of Zamora, ibid, 98. His alliance courted, 
98, 101. A splendid embassy sent to him 
by the Emperor Constantine, 99, 100. 
Peace solicited of him by the Spaniards, and 
granted, 101. Splendid present made to 
him by one of his Vizirs, 102 — 104. His 
death, 104. Revenues, ibid. His account 



of the real number of happy days enjoyed by 
him, 104, 105. . Description of the palace 
of Azzahra erected by him, 167 — 174. No 
ble aqueduct erected by his command, 175. 

Abdurrahman, Vizir of Hisham IT. aspires to 
the Khilafat, 115. Is slain, ibid- 

Abu Abdallah, notice of his history of the 
sciences, 241. 

Abu Abdillah, Sultan of Granada, defeated, 
and taken prisoner by the Christians, 115, 
146. Liberated by the King of Castille, on 
what conditions, 147. Dissensions among 
the Moslems, ibid, 148. His vain attempts 
to get possession of the city of Granada, 
140. 

Abu Muhammad, an eminent musician, no- 
tice of, 295. 

Abu Yahya, Palace of, 166. 

Abu Zachariah, notice of his work on agricul- 
ture, 262, note §. 

Abtilcasis, Anatomical discoveries of, 249. 

Abu-l-Hajjaj, Sultan, assassination of, 139. 
Appendix, xx note. Epitaph on, Appendix, 
xviii — xxi. 

Abu-l Hasan Alt/, Sultan of Granada, 142. 
His successes, ibid. Abandons himself to 
luxurious excesses, 143, 144. Dethroned 
and restored, 146. Resigns in favour of his 
brother, 146. 

Abu-l Hasan, Sultan of Fez, invades Spain, 
141. Captures Gibraltar from the Chris- 
tians, 142. 

Academical Examinations of the Arabs, 217. 
Academies. See Colleges- 
Acbah, subdues the northern coast of Africa, 
22, 23. 

Administration of Justice, 303. 

Africa, invaded by the Arabs, 20, 51. State 
of the country, 21. Subdued by Abdallah, 
22. Revolutions in its government, 22, 23. 
Destruction of Carthage, 24. 

E 



INDEX. 



Agriculture, greatly promoted by the Arabs, 
260. Vestiges of Arabian agriculture in 
modern Spain, 261. Rotation of crops, and 
articles cultivated by them, 262, 263. Ir- 
rigation, 263. 

Ahmadu-bn Shahld, Vizir to Abdurrahman III. 
magnificent present made by, to his sove- 
reign, 102 — 104. Honours conferred on 
him, 104. 

Ahmar. See Ibnu-l-Ahmar. 

Air, two currents of, in the Alhamra, 195. 

Akab, battle of, 1 34. 

Alahhas (dynasty of), accession of to theKhi- 
lafat, 49. Encouraged literature, 50. 

Al-Assaker, his history of the arts noticed, 
241. 

Albategni, astronomical discoveries of, 257- 
Alcassem, poem of, on Algebra, 252. 
Alchemy, studied by the Arabs, 251. 
Alexandria, captured by the Arabs, 17, 18. 

Accounts of its library, 209 note. Destroyed 

by the Saracens, 209. 
Al-Farabi, an Arabian philosopher, notice 

of, 243. Account of his musical talents, 

294. 

Alfath, an Arabian author, notice of, 37- 
Al-Fergani, astronomical discoveries of, 255, 
256. 

Alfonso, King of Castille and Leon, attacks 
the Moslems, and takes Toledo, 126. Wages 
war with Ibn Abbad, Sultan of Seville, ibid, 
128. Is totally defeated, 129. 

Algasania, an Arabian poetess, notice of, 233. 

Algebra, by whom invented, 252. State of 
this science among the Arabs, 252. 

Alghalib Billah, Sultan of Granada, defeats 
the Christians, 140. 

Alhakam I. accession of, to the throne of Cor- 
dova, 88. Subdues an insurrection, ibid. 
Invades France, 89. The first who orga- 
nized his armies, ibid. Description of his 
character and person, 90. 

Alhakam II. accession of to the Khilafat, 105. 
Present made to him by his prime minister, 
105. Subdues the Gallicians, 106. Con- 
cludes various treaties with the Christians, 
107, 108. Subdues Africa, 108. Patronises 
literature and the arts, 109. His noble li- 
brary, ibid, 214. His death and character, 
110. 

Alhamra, delightful situation of, 191. By 
whom founded, 192, 193. Origin of its 
name, j92 note. Splendid mosque there, 
1 93. General observations on the arrange- 
ment of the edifice, ibid, 194. Abundant 
supply of water there, 194. Admirable dis- 



position of air in the apartments, 195. Mo- 
saics and other ornaments, ibid, 196. Palace 
of Charles V. erected on part of its ruins, 
ibid. Splendid baths, 196. Hall of Am- 
bassadors and Hall of the Two Sisters, 197. 
Inscriptions, ibid. Present state of the Al- 
hamra, 198. Noble cistern, ibid. Uncom- 
mon durability of this edifice, 284, 285. 
Collection of inscriptions there, Appendix, 
i — xxi. 

Alhazen, optical writings of, 257- 
Alhumaidy, an Arabian historian, notice of, 
36, 37. 

All, the Khalif, notice of, 45. Cultivated li- 
terature, 210. 

Alif Li/a Pa Lilin, or Arabian Nights' En- 
tertainments, account of, 237, 238. 

Alkhatib. See lbnu-l-Khatib. 

Alkindi, an Arabian philosopher, notice of, 
237, 238. His writings, 254. 

Alliteration, specimen of, in northern poetry, 
318, and note. 

Almakzumy, an Arabian writer, notice of, 36. 

Al-Mamun (Khalif of Baghdad) anecdotes of 
his love of literature, 21 1, 212. Mathema- 
tics cultivated by him, 212, 253. Charged 
with destroying original Greek MSS. 212. 
Cultivated and promoted the study of astro- 
nomy, 254, 255. 

Almamun usurps the sovereignty of Cordova, 
118. Taken prisoner, 119. 

Almamun, Khalif of Toledo, splendid reign of, 
123, 124. 

Almansur (Khalif), anecdotes of his love of 
literature, 47. Account of his encourage- 
ment of learning, 210, 211. 

Almausaly (Ishaak), an eminent musician, 
notice of, 293, 294. 

Almuhdy Billah, inaugurated Khalif, 115. 
Disgraces the descendants of Almansur, 116. 
Rebellion against him, ibid. Is slain, 11 7. 

Almukry, an Arabian historian, account of, 
31. Plan of his work, 32, 33. 

Almustazhar, Khalif of Cordova, 1 19. 

Almutawakkil, Sultan, an encourager of lite- 
rature, 136. Notice of his magnificent 
library, 214. 

Almuzaffaru-bnu-l Aftas, notice of, 136. 

Al-Sekaki, a celebrated rhetorician, notice of, 
228, 229. 

Ahvalid, Khalif, noble mosque erected by, at 

Damascus, 47- 
Aly, Emperor of Morocco, reign of, 130. 
Amru invades Egypt, and subdues Alexandria, 

17, 18. 

Amusements of the Spanish Arabs, 300. 



INDEX. 



Annasir usurps the sovereignty of Cordova, 
118. Is put to death, ibid. 

Annasir (Muhammad), Emperor of Morocco, 
disastrous reign of, 133. Totally defeated 
by the Spaniards, 134. 

Arabesques, nature of, 291. 

Arabia (Ancient) Geography of, ]. Its ex- 
tent, 2. Climate and Divisions, ibid. 
Arabia Petraea, Deserta, and Felix, 2, 3. 
Its favourable situation, 3. Why not depo- 
pulated by warfare, 6. Sketch of ancient 
history of, 42, 43, Under the Muhamma- 
dan sovereigns, 44, et seq. 

Arabian Tales and Story Tellers, account of, 
237—239. 

Arabs, character of, 4. They subdue Egypt, 
5. Allies to Ninus in the conquest of Asia, 
ibid. Their importance in the revolutions 
of the East, 6. Account of them from the 
time of Mahomet till the arrival of Musa at 
Tangiers, 7- Their language, ibid. Causes 
of its excellence, 8. Their manners in the 
first ages of Islamism, 11. Subdue Syria, 
13. And Mesopotamia, 14. Conquer Per- 
sia, 16. And Egypt, 17, 18. Invade and 
over-run Africa, 20 — 25. Arts cultivated by 
them, 41. Their honourable treatment of 
the vanquished, 50. Their power broken in 
Spain, and the Moors expelled, 158, 159. 
Their progress in literature and the sciences, 
unduly estimated, 308. Estimate of the 
amount of European obligation to the Arabs, 
309, et seq. Their architecture, 275—290. 
Useful arts, 261 — 265. Fine Arts, 291— 
292. Astronomy, 254— 256— 312. Bota- 
ny, 247, 248. Chemistry, 250, 251. Col- 
leges, 215 — 218. Commerce, 269 — 272. 
Diversions, 300. Dress, 299, 300. Elo- 
quence, 224—229. Language, 220 — 223. 
Literature, 207 et seq. Tales and Fables, 
238, 239. Historians, 239 — 241. Geogra- 
phers, 241, 242. Philosophy, 243—246. 
Anatomy, Medicine, and Chirurgery, 248 — - 
251. Mathematics, 251 — 258. Jurispru- 
dence and Theology, 259. Poetry, 229 — 
237. Their titles of Honour and Nobi- 
lity, 301. Voyages of Discovery, under- 
taken by them, 242, 245. Estimate of the 
obligations of Europe to the Arabs, 308 
—322. 

Architecture of the Arabs, sources of, 275. 
Towers of Sanaa, ibid. Reservoir of Me- 
rab, 276. Castles of Sedir and Khawarnak, 
ibid. Houses of ancient Arabs, 277- Caaba 
or Temple at Mecca, ibid, 278, note (*). 
Mosque at Jerusalem, founded by Omar, 



278. Improvements in Arabian architec- 
ture, under the dynasties of Muavia and 
Alabbas, 279. Vestiges of ancient architec- 
ture in Egypt, 230. Few materials of Ara- 
bian edifices extracted from the quarry, ibid, 
281. Causes of the improvement of Ara- 
bian architecture, 281, 282. Pantanos or 
reservoirs, 282. Structure of Arabian 
houses, 283. Mode of covering roofs, 284. 
Durability of Moorish edifices, 284, 285. 
Form of bricks, and how laid, 285, 286. 
Remains, and structure of Arabian military 
architecture, 286, 287. Different periods of 
Arabian architecture, 287, 288. Its charac- 
teristic features, 289. Origin of the crescent 
arch, 289. Structure and position of the 
columns, 290. 

Aristotle, philosophy of, why preferably culti- 
vated by the Arabs, 245, 246. 

Arithmetic, originally derived from the In- 
dians, 251. 

Armies of the Arabs, first organised by Alha- 
kam I. 89. Account of their Military dis- 
cipline, 305—307. 

Armorial bearings of the Arabs, 301. 

Arrashid. See Harun. 

Artillery of the Arabs, account of, 306, 307. 

Arts, useful, state of, among the Arabs, 260. 
Agriculture, ibid, 261—265. Horticulture, 
265, 266. See Manufactures. 

Arts (Fine) of the Spanish Arabs, 291. Paint- 
ing and Sculpture, ibid. 292. Ornamental 
Writing, 292. Music, 293—296. 

Arrazy, an Arabian Historian, notice of, 33. 

Arrows, divination by, 256, and note %. 

Arzachet, astronomical works and discoveries 
of, 255, 256. 

Asparagus, curious mode of rearing, 262, 
note §. 

Assamh, or Elzemagh, Governor of Spain, 
account of, 75, 242, 2 13. 

Astrology, studied by the Arabs, 256. 

Astronomy, state of, among the ancient Arabs, 
254. Improvement in this science, made 
by the Khalif Almamun, 254, 255. Notice 
of eminent Arabian astronomers, 255. As- 
tronomical Tables made by them, ibid. 256. 
Observatories first invented by them, ibid. 
European astronomy, greatly indebted to the 
Arabs, 312. 

Aysha, an Arabian poetess, notice of, 232, 
233. 

Azzahra, palace of, described, 167, 1 7-4- 

Baco7i (Roger), deeply versed in Arabic lite- 
rature, 311. 



INDEX. 



Badajos, erected into an independent sove- 
reignty, by the Moors, 125. 

Bibliomania, anecdote of, at Cordova, 164. 

Books, passion for, at Cordova, 164. 

Botany, knowledge of, greatly promoted by 
the Aral>s, 247. Notice of eminent botanists, 
ibid, 24 8, and note. 

Bricks (Moorish), structure of, 285. How 
laid, 286. 

Bridge at Cordova, by whom erected, 75. 
Repaired by the Khalif Hisham I., 87- 
Further account of it, 167- A wonderful 
one at Toledo, over the Tagus, 95, note (*) 

Caaba, or temple at Mecca, notice of, 277? 

278, and note (*). 
Cahina, queen of the Moors, bold resistance of, 

to the Arabs, 24, 25. 
Cairoan. See Kaiman. 
Calligraphy, of the Spanish Arabs, 292, 293. 
Cannon, Moorish, description of, 306, 307. 
Carthage, destroyed by the Arabs, 24. 
Character, of the ancient Arabs, 4. Of the 

Spanish Arabs, 299, 300. 
Charles V. Emperor, palace of, erected in the 

Alhamra, never finished, 196. Its present 

state, ibid. 

Chemistry, improvements made in, by the 

Arabs, 250, 251. 
Chirurgery, of the Arabs, 259. 
Christians, learned, patronised by the Khalifs, 

210, 211. 

Ceilings (wooden), in the Alhamra, uncommon 

durability of, 284, 285. 
Clarke (Dr. D. E.), on the Arabian Nights' 

Entertainments, 2^8 note. 
Climate of Arabia, 1 . 

Coins, when first struck by the Arabs, 272. 
Account of Cufic coins, 273. Notice of those 
current in Spain, under the Arabs, ibid. 

Colleges (Arabian), 215- Their internal go- 
vernment, and course of study pursued there, 
216, 217. Public examinations, 217? 218. 

Columns, of the Arabs, structure and position 
of, 290. 

Comaresh, tower of, in the Alhamra, inscrip- 
tion in, Appendix, vi.-xviii. 

Comedy, of the Arabs, account of, 235. 

Commerce, of ancient Arabia, 269, 270. Of 
Spain, under the Moorish government, 270, 
2 j 2. 

Compass (the mariner's) invented by the Arabs, 
320, 321. 

Constuntme (son of the Emperor Leo IV.), 
sends a splendid embassy to Abdurrahman 
III., 98, 99. Account of its reception, 99, 
100. 



Cordova, situation of, 16 1. When and by 
whom founded, 162. Taken by the Maho- 
metans, 64. Its extent under the Moors, 
162, 163. Character of the Cordovans, 163. 
Rich in Books, 164. Royal edifices, 165. 
Villa of Abdurrahman I., i 66. Palace of 
Saiyad Abu Yahya, ibid. Bridge over the 
Guadalquivir, 1 67- By whom erected and 
repaired, 75, 81. Palace of Azzahra de- 
scribed, 167, e t seq. Palace of the Khilafar, 
169. Mosque in the Azzahra, 170. Pub- 
lic baths, 171- Expense of the erection, 17 1. 
Number of domestics employed in the pa- 
lace, 172. Statue of Azzahra, 173. Di- 
mensions of the palace, 173,174. Destroyed, 
together with the palace of Azzahira, 174. 
Noble aqueduct erected by Abdurrahman III. 
175. Its great mosque founded, 175, 176. 
Successive additions made to it, 176, 182, 

183. Its dimensions, 176, 1 77, 178. Splen- 
did copy of the Koran deposited therein, 
179. Height of its tower, and ornaments, 
179, 180. Massive chandeliers, 180, 181. 
Cisterns for ablution, 181, 182. Number 
of mosques in Cordova, 183. Its suburbs, 

184. Population under the Moors, ibid, 
186. Modern population, ibid. Universi- 
ties at Cordova, 185. Eminent men, natives 
of this place, 185, 186. 

Crescent Arch, account of, 289, 290. 
Crops, raised by the Arabs, notice of, 263. 
Ctesiphon, the capital of Mesopotamia or Irak, 

12. Subdued by the Arabs, 15. Account 

of its riches, ibid. 
Cufic characters, account of, 222, 223. 
Cufic coins, notice of, 272, 273. 

Damascus, great mosque of, 46, 47- 
Damasquina ivork, nature of, 191 note. 
Dancing, a favourite diversion of the Spanish 
Arabs, 300. 

Dictionaries, of Zamakhshari, 224. Of Jau- 
hari, FIruzabadi, and Al-Cossa, ibid. 

Diet, of the Spanish Arabs, 298. 

Divan, a collection of Arabian poems, nature 
of, 234, 237. 

Diversions, of the Spanish Arabs, 300. 

Divination, by arrows, 256. In what manner 
performed, ibid note (j). 

Drama, of the Arabs, account of, 234, 235. 

Dress, of the Spanish Arabs, 299, 300. 

Ecija, conquered by the Arabs, 62, 63. 
Edifices (Moorish), structure of, 283. Their 
durability, 284, 285, and note. 



1ND 



EX. 



Edinburgh Review, observations on, 41, 42, 
note. 

Egypt, subdued by the Arabs, 5, 1 7» 18 
Eloquence, of the Arabs, 224. Of the Koran, 
examined, 225, 226. The cause of its suc- 
cess, 8, 44. Eloquence in general, 227. 
Of the pulpit in particular, ibid, 228. Ac- 
count of Arabian writers on eloquence, 228, 
229. 

Elzemagh. See Assamh. 
Epic Poetry, not cultivated by the Arabs, 
234. 

Epitaph, on Abu-1 Hajjaj, Appendix, xviii 
— xxi. 

Europe, obligations of, to the Arabs, consi- 
dered, 308, et seq. 

Examinations (Academical), of the Arabs, 
217,218. 

Exports, of the Arabs from Spain, 271. 

Fables, of Lokman, notice of, 239. 

Ferdinand, King of Castile, successes of against 
the Moors, 149. Captures Malaga, 151. 
Velez, ibid. Guadix, 152. Ravages the 
kingdom of Granada, 153. Attacks the city, 
154. Which surrenders to him, 155. Sum- 
mary of the terms of capitulation, 155, 157> 
Oppresses the Moors, 157, 158. 

Fertility of Spain, under the Arabs, 264, 265. 

Feuds, among the Spanish Arab tribes, 303. 

Fine Arts of the Spa?iish Arabs, 291. Paint- 
ing and sculpture, ibid, 292. Ornamental 
writing, 292. Music, 293—296. 

Fire-arms, of the Arabs, 306, 307- 

Fortresses, of the Arabs, 286, 287. 

France, ravaged by the Moslems, 71- In- 
vaded by Alhakam I., 89. The Franks de- 
feated by Miisa-bn Musa, 92. 

Gallantry, of the Spanish Arabs, 299. 
Gamut (Italian), borrowed from the Arabs, 
296. 

Gardens, of the Arabs, 265, 266. 

Gate, of law or justice in the Alhamra, 303. 

Inscription on it, Appendix, iv. 
Generalife or Generalise (royal villa of), its 

delightful situation, 199. Gardens, ibid. 

Anecdote of the Queen's cypresses, 199. 

note. 

Genius, of Arabian poetry, 235, 237. 
Geography, greatly cultivated by the Arabs, 

241. Improved by exploratory voyages, 242. 
Gerbert (or Pope Sylvester 11.), introduced 

Arabic figures into western Europe, 252. 

Account of his literary labours, 310, 311. 



Gherardo di Cremona, literary labours of, 
311. 

Gibbon (Mr.), comparison of the Koran with 

the Scriptures, 226. 
Gibraltar, origin of its name, 59 note (*). 

Taken from the Christians by Abu-1 Hasan, 

142, Recaptured by the Franks, ibid. 
Giraldo or Girada, of Seville, notice of, 204, 

256. 

Globes, massive of the Arabians, 241, and 
note (**)• 

Golden Saloon, in the Alhamra, inscriptions 
on, Appendix, ix— xv. 

Gothic Architecture, probably of Oriental 
origin, 288, 289, note. 

Government, of the Spanish Arabs a 302, 303. 

Grammar, the first Arabic, when composed, 
45 note. Schools for, established at Cufa 
and Bassora, 223. Notice of eminent gram- 
marians, ibid, 224. Abu Mohammed Ab- 
dallah Ibn Hischam, ibid, note. Dictiona- 
ries, 224. 

Granada, kingdom of, founded by Ibnu-1 Ah- 
mar, 137, 187- Events of his reign, 138, 
139. List of its sovereigns, 139, 140, note 
(I). Causes that led to its decline and fall. 

143, 144. Its extent, 187. Ancient and 
present population, 200. Its fertility under 
the Arab sovereigns, 264, 265. 

Granada (city of), attacked by Ferdinand king 
of Castile, 154. Surrenders to him, 155. 
Articles of capitulation, ibid, 157- They are 
ill observed, and the Moors oppressed and 
plundered, 158, 15y. Ancient history of 
the city, 187- By whom founded, 188. 
Origin of its name, ibid, note. Encomiums 
bestowed on it by native writers, 188. De- 
scription of its charming situation, 189, 190. 
Present state of the Vega de Granada, 189 
note, 191, 192. Delightful situation of the 
Alhamra, 191- By whom founded, 193. 
Splendid mosque in the Alhamra, ibid. Ge- 
neral observations on its arrangement, 193, 
198. And on the villa of Al Generaliffe, 199. 
Ancient and present population, : 00. ub- 
lic library, 200, 201. University, 201. 
Description of the manner.-, customs, amuse- 
ments, &c. of the inhabitants of Granada, 
300. 

Greece, philosophy of, communicated by trans- 
lations to the Arabs, 243. 

Guadix, Sultan of, submits to Ferdinand king 
of Castile, 152. 

Gunpowder, composition of, known to the 
Arabs, 250. Used by them in war, 306. 



IND 



EX. 



Hall, of'ambassadors, in the Alhamra, obser- 
vations on, 197. And on the Hall of the 
Two Sisters, 197. Inscription in the Hall 
of Ambassadors, Appendix, xii. 

Hammad Arrawiyah, anecdote of his reten- 
tive memory, 47, 48. His favourable re- 
ception by the Khalif Hisham, 48, 49. 

Hariri, eloquence of, 227. 

Harun Arrashid (Khalif), anecdotes of his 
love of literature, 211. 

Heraclius, the Greek emperor, forces of, de- 
feated by the Arabs, 13. 

Himyaric Characters, account of, 222. 

Hisham I., accession of to the throne of Cor- 
dova, 85. Subdues Narbonne, 86. Success- 
ful wars with the Christians, 87. Repairs the 
Bridge at Cordova, 87. His death, 88. 

Hisham II., Khalif of Cordova, 110. His 
power usurped by his prime minister, ibid. 
By whom he is removed from the throne, 
111. Is put to death, 116. 

Hisham III., Khalif of Cordova, 119. Put to 
death, 120. 

History, much cultivated by the Arabs, 239. 

Historians (Arabian), account of, 31. Al- 
mukry, ibid. 32. Plan of his work, 32, 33. 
Arrazy, 33. Ibnu-l-Farazy, 34. Ibn Ab- 
dilbarr, ibid. Ibn Hazm, 35. Almakzumy, 

36. Ibn Haiyan, ibid. Alhumaidy, ibid. 

37. Alfath, 37. Ibn Bassam, ibid. Ihn 
Bashkuval, 38. Ibnu-l-Abbar, ibid. Ibn 
Khaldun, ibid. Other minor historians, 39, 
40, 240. Comparative observations on the 
relative value of the Arabian and Spanish 
historians, 52, 53. Notice of Ibnu-1 Khatlb, 
239, 240. 

Horticulture, of the Arabs, 265, 266. 
Houses (Moorish), structure and arrangement 

of, 283. Mode of roofing, 283, 284. Their 

durability, 284. 
Hunting, of the Arabs, 300. 
Hydrostatics, studied by the Arabs, 257, 258. 

IbnAbbad, king of Cordova and Seville, re- 
fuses tribute to Alfonso, king of Castile and 
Leon, 126. Prepares for a vigorous defence, 
ibid, 127. Defeats Alfonso, 129. Is carried 
captive into Africa by Yusuf, ibid, 130. 

Ibn Abdilbarr,-an Arabian historian, notice of, 
34. 

Ibn Al-Beithar, an eminent botanist, notice 
of, 247. 

Ibn Al-Cossa, Dictionary of, 224. 
Ibn Bashkuval, notice of, 38. 
Ibn Bassam, notice of, 37« 
Ibn Haiyan, notice of, 36. 



Ibn Hazm, notice of, 85. 

Ibn Hud, establishes his government at Mur- 

cia, 137- Assassinated by his Vizir, 138. 
Ibn Shuraif, an Arabian orator, notice of 227. 
Ibnu-l-Abbar, notice of, 38. 
Ibnu-l-Ahmar, founds the kingdom of Gra- 
nada, 137- Events of his reign, 138, 139. 

The founder of the Alhamra, 137. 
Ibnu-l-Farazy, account of, 34. 
Ibnu-l-Khatib, account of the life and writings 

of, 239, 240. 
Idrisi, the Nubian geographer, account of, 241 , 

242, and note (*). Notice of his description 

of Spain, 161 note. 
Indians, the inventors of figures, 251, 252. 
Iron and steel manufactories of the Arabs, 

267. 

Irrigation, art of, improved by the Arabs, 263, 
264. 

Jallaluddin, a celebrated rhetorician, notice 
of, 228. 

Jerusalem, great mosque of, described, 45, 46, 
note. 

Jews, oppressed in Spain, by the Gothic so- 
vereigns, 27. 

Jones (Sir William), opinion of, relative to the 
antiquity of Arabian poetry, 229 note. On 
the genius of Arabian poetry, 234, 236. 

Julian (Count), successfully defends Ceuta 
against the Moslems, 55. His daughter se- 
duced by Roderic the Gothic king of Spain, 
56. His stratagem to get her into his pos- 
session, ibid. Invites Musa into Spain, 57- 
Makes an incursion into that country himself, 
ibid. 

Jurisprudence, of the Arabs, 258, 303. 

Kairuan, or Cairoan, founded, 25, 26. Ves- 
tiges of ancient architecture there, 280. 

Kaled, a Saracen general, victories of, 13. 

Khalifs, or successors of Mahomet, extensive 
dominions of, 11. Promoters of literature, 
47, 49, 50, 108, 109, 208, 209. 

Khalifs, of Spain, revenues of, 303, 304. 

Koran, composition of, the cause of its recep- 
tion, 8, 44. Its principles, 10. The first 
Arabic composition in prose, 224. Remarks 
on its style, 225. Its finest passages bor- 
rowed or imitated from the Scriptures, 226. 
Proofs of this, ibid, note. The sole code of 
jurisprudence, 303. 

Labana, a poetess, notice of, 233. 
Language (Arabian), cause of its excellence, 

8, 221. Its copiousness, 220, 236. Variety 

of dialects, 220. 



% 



INDEX. 



Leather manufactories, notice of, 268. 
Leo, Archbishop of Thessalonica, an emi 

nent mathematician, account of, 253, and 

note. 

Leon (city of), taken by storm, by Abdurrah- 
man II., 92. 

Letters (Arabic), origin of, 222. Himyaric 
characters, ibid. Curie, ibid. Nishki, 223. 

Lexicons, of the Arabs, 224. 

Library (Alexandrian), burnt by the Saracens, 
209 note. 

Libraries (public), in Spain, 214, 215. At 
Granada, 200, 201. 

Lions' court and fountain, in the Alhamra, in- 
scription on, Appendix, v. vi. 

Literature, of the early Arabs, account of, 
207. State of, in ancient Arabia, 208. Pro- 
tect/ d by the Khalifs, 47, 49, 50, 108, 109, 
209. And by the independent Emirs, 219. 
By All and Muavla, 210. By Al-Mansur, 
ibid. By Harun Anashld, 211. By Al- 
Mamun, 211, 212. Literature of the Arabs 
in Spfin,213. Mozarabic missal, ibid note. 
Pubiic libraries, 214. Colleges, academies, 
and schools, 215. Internal government and. 
course of study pursued there, 215, 216. 
Public examinations, 217, 218. Origin and 
genius of the Arabic language, 220, 223. 
Eloquence of the Arabs, 224, 226. Pulpit 
eloquence, 227. Rhetoric, 228. Poetry, 
229, 271. Arabian tales, 238, 23". Fables, 
239. Historians, 239, 241. Geographers, 
241, 242. Statistics, 242, 243. Botanists, 
247. Medical writers, 248, 249. Anatomical 
writers, 249. Chemists, 250, 251. Mathe- 
maticians, 250, 252- Geometricians, 253. 
Writers on trigonometry, 353. On astro- 
nomy, 255, 256. On optics, 257, and 
hydrostatics, 258. On theology and juris- 
prudence, ibid, 259. 

Lokman, notice of, and of his fables, 239. 

Mahomet (the Arabian legislator), causes of 
his success, 8, 9, Announces his prophetic 
mission, 10. Compelled to flee from Mecca, 
ibid. Principles of his Koran, ibid. Suc- 
cess of the Khalifs, who succeeded him, 11 
et seq. 

Mahomet Ben Ahmad Abdalla, librarian of 
Granada, notice of, 200 note (J). 

Makrizi, notice of his works on Arabian money 
and weights, 241 note (J). 

Malaga, captured from the Moors by the 
Christians, 151. 

Manners, of the Arabs, 297, 300. 

Manufactures, of the Arabs, 267, 268. 



Maria, the Arabian Corinna, notice of, 233. 
Marine, of the Arabs, account of, 307. 
Mariner s Compass, invented by the Arabs, 
320,321. 

Mathematics, cultivated by the Arabs, 251. 
Their arithmetic, ibid. Algebra, 252. 
Geometry, 253. Trigonometry, ibid. As- 
tronomy, 254, 256. Optics, 257- Mechanics 
and hydrostatics, ibid, 258. 

Measures, of the Spanish Arabs, 273. 

Mechanics, studied by the Arabs, 257. The 
pendulum invented by them, ibid. 

Medicine, of the Arabs, derived from the Greeks, 

248. Discoveries made by the former, ibid. 

249. European schools of medicine, of 
Arabian origin, 312. 

Merab, reservoir of, 276. 

Mesopotamia, invaded and conquered by the 

Saracens, 13, 15. 
Metals, worked by the Arabs, 266. Exported 

by them, 271. 
Military Architecture, of the Arabs, 287- 
Military Disicpline, of the Arabs, 305, 307. 
Mines, worked by the Arabs, 266. 
Mohammed. See Mahomet. 
Mohammed Ben Musa, mathematical works 

of, 252, 255. 
Mohammed Ben Phara, an eminent botanist, 

notice of, 248 note. 
Money, when first coined by the Arabs, 272. 

Account of money current in Spain under 

the Moorish government, 273. 
Montpelier, medical school of, of Arabian 

origin, 312. 
Moors, oppressed by the Spaniards after the 

capitulation of Granada, 157, 158. They 

abandon Spain, and flee into Africa, 159. 
Mosaics, in the Alhamra, observations on, 195, 

196, 291. 

Mosque, at Jerusalem, described, 45, 56, note, 
278. Of Damascus, 46, 47, 279. In the 
palace of Azzahra, 170. The great mosque 
at Cordova, when founded, 175, 176. Ad- 
ditions successively made to it, 176. Its 
dimensions, 176, 177, 178, 182, 183. 
Splendid copy of the Koran, deposited 
therein, 179. Height of its tower and or- 
naments, 179, 180. Massive chandeliers, 
180, 181. Cisterns for ablution, 181, 182. 
Number of mosques in Cordova, 1S3. Splen- 
did mosque in the Alhamra, 193. 

Mozarabic Missal, account of, 213 note. 

Mughaith, an Arabian chieftain, subdues Cor- 
dova, 64, 65. 

Muhammad, ascends the throne of Cordova, 
94. Principal events of his reign, 95. 



IND 



EX. 



Muhammadu-bn Aby A amir, prime minister 
of Hisham II., 110. Usurps the sovereign 
power, ibid. Deposes the Khalif, 111. 
Assumes the title of Almansur, ibid. His 
military successes, 1 1 2. Makes additions to 
the mosque at Cordova, ibid. Takes the city 
of St. Jago from the Christians, 113. Anec- 
dotes of his strict regard to justice, ibid. 
His military rigour, ibid. His death, 114. 

Muhammad Annasir, Emperor of Morocco, 
disastrous reign of, 133. Totally defeated at 
the battle of Akab, 134. 

Musa, invades Africa, 54. Jealous of Tarik, 
he enters Spain by a different route, 67- 
His conquests, 68. Quells a revolt of the 
Spaniards, 69, 70. Quarrels with Tarik, and 
disgraces him, 70. His forces make an in- 
cursion into France, 71. His ambitious pro- 
jects, 72. Is recalled to Syria, disgraced by 
the Khalif, and reduced to beggary, 73. His 
death, 74. 

Musa-bn Musa, defeats the Franks, 92. And 
Spaniards, 95. 

Music, patronised by the Khalifs, 293. Won- 
derful effects of, ibid. Notice of eminent 
musicians, 293, 295. Arabian writings on 
this art, 29f. Musical modes of the Arabs, 
296. Musical instruments invented by them, 
ibid. 

Natural Sciences, cultivated by the Arabs, 247- 
Writers on natural history, ibid. Botany, 
ibid. Medicine, 248. Pharmacy, 249. 
Chemistry, 250, 251. 

Nauckrissi, itinerary of, 242. 

Nishki Character, by whom invented and im- 
proved, 223. 

Nobility, of the Spanish Arabs, 301. 

Normans, make incursions into Spain, 92. 
Repeat their ravages, but are defeated and 
expelled, 106, 107- 

Numismatics, Arabian writers on, 241 and 
note {%). 

Observatories, and astronomical observations of 

the Arabs, 256, 255. 
Ocadh, annual fair at, account of, 230. 
Optics, discoveries in, made by the Arabs, 257. 
Ornamental Writing of the Spanish Arabs, 

292, 293. 

Paintings of the Spanish Arabs, 291, 292. 

Palaces (Royal), at Cordova, Account of, 165, 
Of Abu Yahya, 166. Of Azzahra, 167— 
174. Of Azzahira, 174. Of Alhamra, 192, 



198. Of Charles V. erected therein, 196. 
Of Al Generalife, 199. 

Pantanos, or reservoirs of the Arabs, 282. 

Paper introducad into western Europe by the 
Arabs, 268, 269. 

Pelagius (Don), assembles the fugitive Spa- 
niards, 79. And successfully opposes the 
Moslems, ibid. 

Pendulum, invented by the Arabs, 257- 

Persian Empire, subdued by the Arabs, 16, 

17- 

Petrarca, imitated the Provencal bards, 319. 
320. 

Pharmacy, improved by the Arabs, 249. 
Philologists (Arabian), list of, 50. 
Philosophers, eminent Arabian, notice of, 243, 
244. 

Philosophy, of Aristotle, why preferably culti- 
vated by the Arabs, 245, 246. 

Physicians, eminent, notice of, 248. 

Plain of Granada, delightful situation of, 189 
note, 191, 192. 

Pleiades, Arabian, 231. 

Plunder, how apportioned by the Arabs, 11. 

Poetry, a favourite study of the Arabians, 229. 
The antiquity of some Arabian poems dis- 
cussed, ibid note. Early poetical contests, 

230. The Muallakat, or seven golden poems, 

231. Construction of ancient Arabian 
poetry, ibid. When first reduced to rules, 
ibid. Poets much encouraged, 232 and note. 
Notice of eminent Spanish-Arabian poets, 
ibid, 233. Nature of poetical divans, 234, 
237. Dramatic poetry, ibid, 235. Arabian 
poetry, why not popular, ibid. Examination 
of its genius, ibid, 236. Structure of Arabian 
rhyme, ibid, 237- Rhyme introduced from 
the Arabs into European poetry, 315, 317- 

Population, of Cordova, in the time of the 
Arabs, 184, 186. Its present population, 
ibid. Ancient and present population of the 
kingdom and city of Granada, 200. An- 
cient and present population of Seville, 202, 
203. 

Potteries, notice of, 268. 

Provencal Poetry, of Arabian origin, 317. 
Account of its genius and structure, ibid, 
318. Provencal dialect, how diffused through 
Europe, 318. The Provencal bards imitated 
by Dante, Petrarca, and Boccacio, 319,320. 

Ramiro (Don, King of Gallicia), defeats the 
Arabs, under Abdurrahman III. at the battle 
of Zamora, 97, 98. 

Reishe, opinion of, on the antiquity of Arabian 
poetry discussed, 230 note. 



INDEX. 



Religion, of the Spanish Arabs, 297. 

Reservoir of Merab, 276. Reservoirs of the 
Arabs in Spain, 282 and note. 

Revenues, of Abdurrahman II., 94. Of Ab- 
durrahman HI., 104, 303, 304. 

Rhetoric, cultivated by the Arabs, 228. No- 
tice of their principal writers, ibid. 

Rhyme, invented by the Arabs, and from them 
introduced into Europe, 315, 316. 

Roderic, the last Gothic sovereign, elected to 
the throne of Spain, 26. State of his do- 
minions, 27. Seduces the daughter of Count 
Julian, 56. His proceedings on the invasion 
of Spain by the Arabs, 59. A conspiracy 
against him among his chieftains, 60. Is de- 
feated, 61. His death, 62. 

Roman Empire, incursions in, by the Goths 
and other northern nations, 9. Its state, at 
the commencement of Islamism, 12. In- 
vaded by the Moslems, 13. 

Romance, origin of, 315, 316- 

Rustan, the Persian general, defeated and slain 
by the Saracens, 14. 

Safary Peach, account of, 166. 
Sofia, an Arabian poetess, notice of, 233. 
Salerno, medical school of, 312. 
Sanaa, ancient towers of, 2J5, 276. 
Saracens, invade Syria and Irak, 13. 
Saragossa, sovereignty of, erected by the Arabs, 
124. 

Scholastic Theology, introduced from the 
Arabs, 314. 

Schools (Arab), course of study pursued in, 
215. Their internal government, 216. 

Schultens (Albert), opinion of, relative to the 
antiquity of Arabian poetry, discussed, 229, 
230 note. 

Sciences, cultivated by the Arabs, 2-47. Botany, 
ibid. Medicine, 248, 249. Pharmacy, ibid. 
Anatomy and chirurgery, ibid, 250. Che- 
mistry, ibid. Mathematics, 251, 252. Al- 
gebra, 252. Geometry, 253. Trigonometry, 
ibid: Astronomy, 254, 256. Astrology, 256. 
Optics, 257. Mechanics, ibid. Theology 
and jurisprudence, 258, 259, 

Scriptures, imitated by Mahomet, 226. Proofs 
thereof, ibid note. 

Sculpture, of the Spanish Arabs, 292. 

Seville, sovereignty of, established under the 
family of Band Abbad, 123. Topographical 
account of, 202. Revolutions in the history 
of, ibid. Ancient and present population, 
ibid, 203. Arabian remains there, ibid. 
The Alcazar, ibid. Mosque, ibid. Giraldo, 
204, 256. University, 204. Moorish gar- 
den, 265. 



Siklaby, prime minister of Alhakam II., makes 
a magnificent present to his sovereign, 105. 
Silvester II. See Gerbert. 
Solomon's Table, account of, (>6, 6f. 
Soyriti. See Jallaiuddin. 
Spain, state of, previously to its invasion by 
the Arabs, 27> 28. Ravaged by Count Julian, 
57. Invaded by Tarik, 58. His progress, 
59, 60. Defeat of Roderic, the last Gothic 
king, 61. The Spaniards revolt against the 
Moslems, 69. The rebellion subdued, ibid. 
Account of the different governors, under 
the Khalifs, 74. 
History of Spain, under the independent so- 
vereigns of the house of Ummaiya, 81, et 
seq. Spain ravaged by the Normans, 92, 
106, 107. Contentions for the Khilafar, 
among the Arabs and Barbars, 117. Nu- 
merous independent principalities formed, 
ibid, 121, 122. The Banu Abbad kings of 
Seville, 123. The kingdoms of Toledo, 
Granada, Badajos, and Almeria, founded, 
ibid. Revolutions among the Moorish states, 
134, 136. Kingdom of Granada founded, 
137. List of its sovereigns, 139, 140, note 
(J). Causes that led to its decline and fall, 
143, 144. Destroyed by Ferdinand, king 
of Castille, 155, 158. The Moors abandon 
Spain, 158, 159. The literature and sciences 
of the Arabs, diligently cultivated by native 
Spaniards, 309, 310. Influence of Arabian 
literature on the language and poetry of 
Spain, 316, 317. Topographical account 
of the principal seats of the Mahometan em- 
pire in Spain, 160. Cordova, 161 — 186. 
Granada, 187, 201. Seville, 202, 204. 
Statistics, cultivated by the Arabs, 242. 
Story-tellers (Arabian), account of, 238, 239. 
Study, course of, pursued in the Arabian 
schools, 215. And Colleges, ibid, 216. 
Studies of the Modern Turks, 216, note. 
Sublimity of the Koran, Specimens of, 226. 

Taken from the Scriptures, ibid, note. 
Sulaiman inaugurated Khalif, 116*. Besieges 

Cordova, 117. Is slain, 118. 
Syria, invaded by the Saracens, 13, 14. 

Table of Toledo, description of, 66, 6'7. 
Tadmir, ingenious stratagem of, 65. 
Tales (Arabian), account of, 237 — 269. 
Taraf makes an incursion into Spain, 59- 
Tarik invades Spain, 58. His progress there, 

60. Subdues Ecija, 62. And Cordova, 64. 

His further successes, 66. Disgraced by 

Musa, 70. 

Thebit-ben Corrah, mathematical writings of, 
252. His astronomical discoveries, 255. 

F 



IN 



DEX 



Theology of the Arabs, 258, 259. 
Theophilus (Emperor of Constantinople) sends 

an embassy to Abdurrahman II. 93. 
Titles, extraordinary, given to Arabian Works, 

240. 

Titles of Honour of the Arabs, 301. 

Toledo, captured by the Arabs, 66. Account 
of its celebrated table, ibid, 67- Sovereign- 
ty of, established under the Banti Dhllnun, 
123. Splendid reign of Almamun, ibid, 
124. 

Tolosa, Battle of, 134. 

Towers of Sennaa, 275. Of Sedir and Kha- 

warnak, 276. 
Jrade of the Antient Arabs, 219, 270. Of 

Spain under the Moorish government, 270 

—272. 

Turks, Course of study pursued by, 216, note. 

Universities of Cordova, 185. Of Granada, 
701. Of Seville, 204. Constitution, go- 
vernment, and studies of the Spanish-Ara- 
bian Universities, 215 — 217. 

Valada, the Arabian Sappho, notice of, 232. 

Specimen of her compositions, 233, note. 
Vega de Granada, delightful situation of, 189, 

note, 191, 192. 
Versification of the Arabs, remarks on, 236, 

237- Of Icelandic poetry, 316. 
Viceroys of Spain, under the Khalifs, account 

of, 74—80. 

Voyages of discovery, undertaken by the Arabs, 
242, 245. 



Wahdbees attack Mecca, 277. 
Walls (Moorish) how constructed, 286. 
Watch-towers of the Arabs, 287. 
Water, abundant supply of, in the Alhamra, 
194. 

Weights and Measures of the Spanish Arabs, 

Account of, 273, 274. 
Writing (ornamental) of the Spanish Arabs, 

292. See Letters. 

Yaacubu-l Mansur, Emperor of Morocco, 
brilliant reign of, 132. His assistance re- 
quested by Salahuddln, 133. Defeats Al- 
fonso, 132, 133. 

Yaacu-bn Abdilhakk, Sultan of Fez, reign of, 
141. 

Yezdegerd, the last King of Persia, defeat and 
death of, 1 6. 

Yusuf, the rival of Abdurrahman I. Defeated, 
82. And slain, 83. 

YusufU'bn-Tasafin, Emperor of Morocco, 
125. Account of his family, ibid, note. In- 
vades Spain, 125. Assists Ibn Abbad, King 
of Cordova and Seville, 127. Whom he 
carries into Africa and imprisons, 129, 130. 
Redresses the grievances of the Spaniards, 
130. His death, ibid. 

Zamora, Battle of, 97, 98. _ 
Zaryab, a celebrated musician, singular honour 
paid to, 91. 



THE END. 



London : printed by W. Bulmer and Co. 
Cleveland-row, St. James's. 



